Physical Description

Only edition. 116, 119-216 of [222], [12] ff., small folio, 275:185 mm., lacking f. 217-222 to end, age and damp staining, tears and repairs initial few ff affecting text, scattered worming, not  bound.

Detailed Description   

Responsa by R. Aaron b. Joseph Sasson (1550/5–1626), rabbinic scholar in the Ottoman Empire. He was a pupil of R. Mordecai Matalon and a pupil and colleague of his father-in-law, R. Solomon II of the Levi (Bet ha-Levi) dynasty. R. Aaron had charge of a yeshiva and disseminated Torah in Salonika and then in Constantinople. The circumstances under which he left Salonika with all his family are not clear, but seem to have been connected with the death of R. Solomon II and the subsequent struggle that year to succeed him in the Evora community and its yeshiva. R. Aaron was active in teaching and the giving of halakhic rulings from c. 1585 until his death. Queries were addressed to him from many, often distant, places. His responsa, which he had already prepared for publication, were published in part after his death and show his keen mind and dialectical ability. He was a distinguished talmudist and halakhic authority. From the very beginning of his activity as a posek, the greatest posekim of Salonika turned to him for confirmation of their rulings. R. Aaron bases his rulings upon contemporary scholars - R. Joseph ibn Lev, R. Samuel de Medina, and R. Solomon ha-Kohen - and debates sharply with early scholars as well as with the great scholars who closely preceded him, such as R. Elijah Mizrahi, R. Joseph Colon, and R. Joseph Caro.
 

Hebrew Description  

שאלות ותשובות מהר"א ששון

ספירת-דפים משובשת. בראשי העמודים: שאלות ותשובות.

דף ב: הקדמת... בן... המחבר... יוסף; הקדמת בן בנו של... המחבר... חיים אהרן בכמוהר"ר יוסף ששון נר"ו. עם שיר הפותח: חשפי זבול מסוה אגן רקיע. אוצר השירה והפיוט, ב, עמ' 247, מס' 546.

בספר תשובות מאת חכמי הדור: ר' שלמה לבית הלוי (ו, נו, צט), ר' שלמה הכהן (ו, ס, קס, קסח), ר' צבי ב"ר שמחה (נד), ר' מאיר ן' שנגי (עה), ר' יום טוב צהלון (עז), ר' שמואל די מדינה (קמב), ר' דוד ן' נחמיאש (עה, קמז, קסא) ור' אברהם ן' נחמיאש (קמח).
 

References

Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000171874; EJ; BE tav 995