× Bidding has ended on this item.
Ended

Peletat Bat Yehudah, R. Judah Lerma of Belgrade, Venice 1647

פליטת בית יהודה - Only Edition

Listing Image
Payment Options
Seller Accepts Credit Cards

Payment Instructions
You will be emailed an invoice with payment instructions upon completion of the auction.
Details
  • Lot Number 50771
  • Title (English) Peletat Bat Yehudah
  • Title (Hebrew) פליטת בית יהודה
  • Note Only Edition
  • Author R. Judah Lerma of Belgrade
  • City Venice
  • Publisher Pietro, Giaccamo, Geronimo, and Aluise Bragadin
  • Publication Date 1647
  • Estimated Price - Low 300
  • Estimated Price - High 600

  • Item # 1806900
  • End Date
  • Start Date
Description

Physical Description:

Only edition. ff. 6 to 79 (of 80, [2] ff.) only, quarto, 180:137 mm., nice margins, light age and damp staining, old hands, lacking initial 5 and final 3 ff., worming, final 8 with text loss, not bound.

 

Detailed Description:   

Responsa, novellae, and discourses by R. Judah Lerma (17th century). Lerma, a student of R. Jehiel Bassani, served as rabbi in Belgrade. He is not, as is often done, to be confused with R. Judah ben Samuel Lerma (see 16th Cent. 1:396-97) to whom it appears he was not even related. Among R. Judah Lerma’s students was R. Simhah Ephraim ben Gershon ha-Kohen (Freudemann), who succeeded Lerma as rabbi in Belgrade and brought Peletat Beit Yehudah to press.

The title is from, “And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah” (II Kings 19:30, Isaiah 37:31). The title page has a border of multiple rows of florets and its brief text states that is the responsa of the great light, “the Sinai and uprooter of mountains” (Berakhot 64a, referring to both the breath and depth of his learning), R. Yudah Lerma. Below the Hebrew text in Latin is the place and date of publication, that it was printed at the press of press of Antonio Caleon, and Con Licenza de’ Superiori. R. Simhah ben Gershon ha-Kohen’s introduction follows. Simhah begins by bemoaning the loss of his Rav, noting how extensive was his learning, encompassing discourses on the parashah and haftarot, Mishnah and aggadah, Talmudic tractates, Rif, Rambam, Ran, and other halakhic authorities. R. Simhah writes,

Behold, “today is my complaint bitter; my stroke is heavy because of my groaning.” (Job 23:2) . . . four hundred lengthy responsa, reflecting his great intelligence, and due to our iniquities in a conflagration in which the L-rd burned this city, Belgrade, all were lost, none remaining, not even one, woe for those that are lost and can not be found (Sanhedrin 111a). Behold, today, I, the least of his students, toiled and searched in the holes and cracks and found twenty nine responsa by individuals. I thought to print them, “with an iron stylus and lead” (Job 19:24) to be a good remembrance in the mouths, “of all who are wise hearted” (Exodus 31:6, 36:8), so that his lips should move in the grave (ref. Yevamot 97a, Sanhedrin 90b, and Bekhorot 31b).

R. Simhah continues that he entitles the book Peletat Beit Yehudah for it is all that remains from R. Lerma’s extensive writings. Furthermore, whomever finds mistakes or errors, additions or ommissions, should know that the responsa were on decayed and patched paper. Next are the responsa, set in a single column in rabbinic type. On 74a R. Simhah writes that he is adding one responsum (74a-80b) of his own and from R. Israel Ahoabi so that the total number of responsa will be thirty, a compete number. The volume concludes with an index.

 

Hebrew Description:   

שאלות ותשובות... רב יאודה לירמה זצ"ל... (אני תלמידו... יגעתי... ומצאתי כמו כט תשובות... אמרתי להעלותם על ספר... <שמחה בכ"ר גרשון הכהן זלה"ה).

מעבר לשער הקדמת העורך ר' שמחה הכהן, המספר על כתבי המחבר שעלו באש "בשרפה... בעיר הזאת... בילוגראדו" ואחר חיפוש מצא "ביד בעלי בתים מפה העיר" כט התשובות. דף עד-פ: "אמר... שמחה הכהן... ראיתי להדפיס בסוף תשובות מורי... תשובה אחת שלי ושל חברי... ר' ישראל אהובי נר"ו כדי שיעלה מניינם למנין... שלשים", בעניין "האונה והאומה שנסרכו יחד".

 

References:   

Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000144923