Only edition. [1], 105 (should say 106) ff. folio 305:186 mm., nice margins, light age and damp staining, few margins frayed, stamps. A good copy bound in contemporary leather over boards, ruled in blind.

First edition of the discourses on the weekly parashah by R. Meir ben Isaac Tarnopol. The author, a student of R. Heschel of Cracow, served as av bet din and rosh mesivta in Ottingen. The title page states that it is Me’or ha-Katan, on Hamishah Homshei Torah, from Bereishit to the end, homilies selected from many books. It is better than any other merchandise and priced inexpensively. It then continues with the comments of the editor, R. Hayyim Zelig ben Nathanel, hazzan in Fuerth, So says the editor, what can I say and what can I exclaim, “G-d has found my iniquity” (cf. Genesis 44:16), for, “He has taken the delight of my eyes from me” (cf. Ezekiel 24:16), the above sage, the author, who commanded me prior to his death to bring to press this book, to learn it and to speak of it, discourses wonderful and desirable that he wrote. I have prayed that the L-rd my G-d consider my editing . . . And save us והושיעני (457 = 1697) from all evil and injury.

The verso of the title page has approbations from R. Samuel ben Uri Shraga Feibush of Fuerth, R. Menahem Mendel Ashkenazi of Bamberg, and R. Issachar Bermann ben David Isaac Zekel Segal Frankel of Fuerth. Below the approbations is R. Tarnapol’s introduction. A survivor of the pogroms of 1648-49, he informs that “at a time of wrath” (Bava Kamma 60b) from the Creator, the decree went out, to destroy and abandon the remaining remnant by the wicked Cossacks, [may their name be blotted out].” In their wrath they killed tens of thousands of Jews and destroyed many holy communities in the Ukraine and Podolia, among them R. Tarnopol, spilling their blood as holy sheep in the Temple courtyard, old and young, and maidens drawn to the grave, fruitful with lads and lasses and students of Torah, among them members of my family, from both my father and my mother’s side, they were a target for the arrows, “O earth, cover not their blood” (cf. Job 16:18). . . .R. Tarnopol continues that the survivors fled, undergoing much hardship, sword and cold, going from city to city, undergoing much. They traveled through Poland, which was also in turmoil. He describes the match he made with the daughter of R. Hayyim Zelig who was a hazzan from Levov, Poland. Aged, without offspring, and elderly, Tarnopol said how will he build a house to be remembered and therefore wrote this book, calling it Me’or ha-Katan, citing several reasons, for the title, among them that it is small in size and value. He has included in it explanations of many verses from the Prophets and Megillot.

The text is in two columns in small rabbinic type, primarily peshat (literal interpretations).

Hebrew Description

אשר חיבר הרב... ר' מאיר (בלא"א יצחק ז"ל) טרנפאל אב"ד ור"מ דעיר איטינגן על חמשה חומשי תורה... דרושים... מלוקטים מכמה ספרים... המגיה... חיים זעליג בלא"א הר"ר נתנאל זצ"ל ש"ץ דק"ק פירדא... לפרט ו'ה'ו'ש'י'ע'נ'י' מכל רע ופגיעה

הסכמות: ר' שמואל [ב"ר אורי שרגא פייבוש], פירדא, יג אלול תנ"ג; ר' מנחם מענדל אשכנזי, באמבארג, ח סיון תנ"ה; ר' יששכר בערמן ב"ר דוד יצחק זעקיל סג"ל [פרענקל], פירדא.

BE mem 42; Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000145259; Heller 17th Century Hebrew Book, p. 1326-27