Physical Description

27, [1] ff., octavo, 165:110 mm., nice margins, light age and damp staining. A very good copy bound in modern boards, rubbed.

Detail Description

Kabbalistic liturgies to be recited on the eve preceding and during the circumcision ceremony. A section is devoted to medical and folk remedies for related ailments in Hebrew translated from the Judeo-German. Several new prayers and poems were inserted while others were deleted in this edition.

R. David b. Aryeh Leib of Lida (c. 1650–1696), rabbi and author; nephew of R. Moses b. Zevi Naphtali Rivkes. He studied under R. Joshua Hoeschel b. Jacob of Cracow, and in 1671 was called to the rabbinate in Lida. Subsequently he officiated as rabbi of Ostrog, Mainz (1677), and of the Ashkenazi community of Amsterdam (1681). There he was accused of Shabbatean leanings as well as of literary plagiarism in connection with his Migdal David, a commentary on the Book of Ruth (1680) which some ascribed to R. Hayyim b. Abraham ha-Kohen. After being dismissed from his position, R. David returned to Poland, where he presented his case to the Council of the Four Lands and aired it in a pamphlet entitled Be'er Esek ("Well of Contention," 1684). The Polish rabbinate vindicated him and demanded his reinstatement. On his return to Amsterdam, however, his case was raised again, this time by the Sephardi rabbis, who subsequently likewise vindicated him. He returned to Poland shortly thereafter and died in Lvov. He was the author of numerous homiletic and kabbalistic works, including Sod A-donai (1680), on circumcision; Shomer Shabbat (1687), on the Shabbat and Ir Miklat (1690), on the 613 commandments. A collection of 14 of his compositions was published under the title Yad Kol Bo in 1727. Another work on the Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayyim remains in manuscript. It is now clear that his first work, an ethical treatise, Divrei David (1671), was drawn from other sources, while the Asarah Hillulim, a commentary on Psalms (included in Yad Kol Bo), was incorrectly attributed to R. David by the publishers, having been taken from the commentary on Psalms by the Christian scholar, H. J. Bashuysen. Much of the controversy which centered around R. David stemmed from his militancy and aggressiveness. Among his severest critics was R. Jacob Emden.

Hebrew Description:

... הוספנו בו ... כוונות פרטיות על כל דיבור ודיבור בברכת המילה מלשון ... ר’ משה זכות זצוק"ל (ששלח ... לתלמידו ... ר’ בנימין הכהן [וויטאלי]). ועוד ... תפלה כללית למוהל ולסנדק ... ואחרונה ... ברכת המזון ... לאשכנזים ... לספרדים ואיטליאני ...

דף כד, ב: סדר (פדיון הבן [כפי מנהג]) ק"ק איטליאני.

דף כה-כז: ברית ה’. לקט המדפיס. דינים מנהגים רפואות ... מלוקטים ממה שנמצא בסוף ס’ סוד ה’ הנדפס קודם לזה בעיר אמשטרדם [תס"ט] והועתקו ... מלשון אשכנז ללשונינו הקדש בהניח מהם ... דברים נמצאו ... תוך ... שרביט הזהב.

References:

Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000125180; JE