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Peri Megadim, R. Joseph b. Meir Teomim, Zhitomir 1853

פרי מגדים - מחצית השקל - Hasidic

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Details
  • Lot Number 48794
  • Title (English) Peri Megadim, Part I & !!
  • Title (Hebrew) פרי מגדים - מחצית השקל
  • Note Hasidic
  • Author R. Joseph b. Meir Teomim
  • City Zhitomir
  • Publisher Hanina Lipa and Joshua Heschel Shapira
  • Publication Date 1853
  • Estimated Price - Low 300
  • Estimated Price - High 600

  • Item # 1492579
  • End Date
  • Start Date
Description

Physical Description

Part I & II. [2], 179; 100 ff., folio, 370:243 mm., wide margins, usual light age and damp staining, part II without title (apparently bound as such). A very good copy bound in contemporary boards, rubbed.

While printed independently its purpose was to be incorporated with the 1861-65 edition of the Shulhan Arukh.

 

Detail Description

R. Joseph b. Meir Teomim (c. 1727–1792), rabbi, author, and halakhic authority. Born in Steritz (Szczerzec), near Lvov, Galicia. Teomim was educated by his father, who was dayyan and darshan ("preacher") in Lvov and the author of Birkat Yosef. Despite his distinction as a talmudic scholar, which he already evinced in his youth, Teomim had to resort to teaching to eke out a precarious livelihood. For some years he lived in Komarno, but then returned to Lvov, and in 1772 moved to Berlin, where he continued his studies in the well-known bet ha-midrash of Daniel Jaffe. This was the most fruitful period of his life. Although he became renowned for his scholarship, he evaded all who turned to him on halakhic or practical affairs, and devoted himself entirely to his studies. In 1774 he was called to succeed his father in Lvov, and in 1781 acceded to the request of the community of Frankfort on the Oder to accept the position of rabbi, stipulating at the same time that they provide for the maintenance of 10–12 yeshivah students. It was requested that he agree to remain with them for at least six years, but in fact he remained there for the rest of his life.

Teomim's fame rests upon his classic commentary to the Shulhan Arukh, the Peri Megadim, and he is referred to by that name alone. Peri Megadim on Yoreh De'ah is a supercommentary on the two main commentaries of the Shulhan Arukh, the Turei Zahav and the Siftei Kohen, and its parts are entitled, respectively, Mishbezot Zahav and Siftei Da'at. The work was first published in Berlin in 1771–72 and has since appeared in all large editions of the Shulhan Arukh. The Peri Megadim on Orah Hayyim similarly consists of Mishbezot Zahav on the Turei Zahav, and Eshel Avraham on the Magen Avraham, and was first published in 1787 in Frankfort and subsequently in all editions of the Shulhan Arukh. Three aims can be distinguished in Peri Megadim; to explain the Turei Zahav and the Siftei Kohen, to add to them those laws which they had omitted, and to add forewords and principles to all the halakhot. In connection with the first aim he cites all the rishonim upon whom these commentators based themselves, subjecting their statements to a thorough and painstaking analysis. Although he decides between differing views, at the same time he emphasizes that his decision is not to be taken as a definitive halakhah. His "Introduction and Principles of the Peri Megadim" to the literature of the posekim is of considerable value, since he collates and presents in a complete form the various principles hitherto scattered in the different works. Of particular importance is the introduction to the laws of the admixture of forbidden and permitted foods in the section Yoreh De'ah, entitled Sha'ar ha-Ta'aruvot. In it he collects all the scattered halakhot on this topic and at the same time summarizes the minutest details to be derived from them. The work became a standard one in the rabbinic world, was accepted by all circles of Jewry, and numerous commentaries have been written on it. Even hasidic authorities postulated that "the Heavenly bet din too" decided halakhah in accordance with Teomim.

In addition to Peri Megadim, Teomim compiled other works, all of which went through many editions: Porat Yosef (Zolkiew, 1756), novellae to tractates Yevamot, Ketubbot, and Bava Kamma, as well as expositions of Alfasi's code and of Maimonides' Mishneh Torah; Ginnat Veradim (Frankfort on the Oder, 1767), 70 methodological rules for understanding the Talmud—both works compiled in his youth; Tevat Gome (ibid., 1782; Gome is derived from the initials of Gemara, Midrash, Aggadah), a new edition of novellae on the Torah, contained in Rav Peninnim (ibid., 1772), a work by his father on the Pentateuch; Shoshannat ha-Amakim, a talmudic methodology, comprising expositions of 24 talmudic principles which appeared first in the Rav Peninnim and then separately (ibid., 1782): No'am Megadim (in Seder Hegyon Lev, 1845), sources for the prayers and their laws; and Notarikon (1910), completed in the last year of his life, consisting of ethical sayings, novellae, and sermons. He also wrote Rosh Yosef to tractate Hullin (Frankfort on the Oder, 1794); to Berakhot, Shabbat, Megillah, Pesahim, Bezah (1863); and to the remainder of the order Mo'ed (1883). Some of his novellae were also published in his father's work Birkat Yosef ve-Eliyahu Rabba (Zolkiew, 1747). Teomim's responsa that appear in his various works were collected and published under the title Teshuvot Peri Megadim (1935). A collection was also made of his sayings on reward and punishment, entitled Mattan Sekharan shel Mitzvot (1874). He also wrote Ha-Maggid, comments on the Pentateuch and haftarot; and Em la-Binah, a lexicon of Hebrew and Aramaic roots in alphabetic order. Teomim also mentions unpublished works.

In 1847 the Shapira printing press was established by the three brothers Hanina Lipa, Aryeh Leib, and Joshua Heschel Shapira, sons of R. Samuel Abraham Abba Shapira, the printer in Slavuta. Until 1862 this was one of the only two Hebrew presses the Russian government permitted to operate in the whole of Russia, the other being in Vilna. This press had 18 hand presses and four additional large presses. In 1851 Aryeh Leib broke away and established his own printing press in Zhitomir. In these two establishments only sacred books of every kind were printed.

 

Hebrew Description

... על שלחן ערוך מטור אורח חיים ... ונלוה אליו ספר מחצית השקל [חלק א-ב, ווין תקס"ז-תקס"ח], מאת ... ר' שמואל הלוי קעלין זצללה"ה בן ... ר' [נתן] נטע הלוי זצלה"ה מק"ק קעלין, והוא ... ריבץ תורה בישראל זה קרוב לששים שנה בק"ק באסקעוויץ ... לבאר גם הוא את דברי המגן אברהם ... שני אלה הביאורים נספחו אל הש"ע ... (חלק א-ב).

חלק ב (הספירה השנייה) מתחיל בהלכות פסח, סימן תכט. "משבצות זהב" ו"אשל אברהם" נדפסו עמודה מול עמודה, ומתחתם "מחצית השקל". "פרי מגדים" עם הקדמת המחבר. נשמטו התוספת להקדמה ("גם אלה דברי המחבר"), הפתיחה הכללית, הפתיחות להלכות מיוחדות, הסדרים בהנהגת השואל עם הנשאל, הכללים בשולחן ערוך והאיגרות. "מחצית השקל" עם הקדמת המחבר והקדמת חתנו ר' יעקב בער ב"ר יוסף ניקלשבורג בי"ח. הספר נספח אל הוצאת השולחן ערוך אורח חיים, ספר מגני ארץ, זיטאמיר תרכ"א-תרכ"ה.

 

References

EJ; Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000182038