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Ahavat Olam, R. Solomon ben Abraham Algazi, Dyhernfurth 1693

אהבת עולם

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Details
  • Lot Number 50808
  • Title (English) Ahavat Olam
  • Title (Hebrew) אהבת עולם
  • Author R. Solomon ben Abraham Algazi
  • City Dyhernfurth
  • Publisher דפוס שבתי משורר [בס]
  • Publication Date 1693
  • Estimated Price - Low 300
  • Estimated Price - High 600

  • Item # 1808021
  • End Date
  • Start Date
Description

Physical Description

Only editions, folio. 124 ff. 290:190 mm., nice margins, light age, and damp staining. A good copy bound in contemporary boards, rubbed and spine taped.

 

Detail Description

Derashot based on midrashim by R. Solomon ben Abraham Algazi. The title-page, dated with the chronogram “עַד שֶׁמָּצָאתִי אֵת שאָהֲבָה נַפְשִׁי  (453 = 1693)” (Shir ha-Shirim 3:4) is followed by an introduction,  then verse in three columns, the first word in all but one of the paragraphs of the third column beginning with יתר, R. Algazi’s introduction and then the text. R. Algazi also references other important works, such as the Rambam.

R. Solomon ben Abraham Algazi (1673–1762), rabbi and halakhist, was apparently born in Jerusalem. He was the half-brother of R. Ḥayyim ben Moses Abulafia, who restored the Jewish settlement in Tiberias. R. Algazi was a pupil of R. Hezekiah da Silva. He served in the bet din of R. Abraham Yiẓḥaki, and taught in his yeshivah. One of his outstanding pupils was R. Judah Navon, author of Kiryat Melekh Rav. In 1728 R. Algazi immigrated to Cairo, where he also served in the bet din and c. 1740 was elected chief rabbi of Egypt. R. Algazi rescinded the resolution of the Egyptian rabbis not to study the Peri Hadash of R. da Silva which was made on the ground that he differed in several instances from Maimonides and other leading halakhists; all of R. Algazi's decisions were based on R. da Silva. He also wrote responsa and a book on Maimonides, now lost but which was seen by R. Ḥayyim Joseph David Azulai in 1753.

The printer, Shabbetai Bass (1641-1718) is a noteworthy person. He was the first Jewish bibliographer; had a pleasant voice, Bass was engaged as an assistant singer (hence his nickname Bass) to the cantor Loeb at the Altneu synagogue (Altneuschul) in Prague. In Prague he acquired a thorough knowledge of the Talmud, and also a general education which included Latin. His love of books and a critical spirit drew him to publication and printing. In 1669 in Prague he printed a revised edition of the Yiddish commentary on the Pentateuch and the Five Scrolls by Moses Saertels, Be'er Moshe, with an appendix on "grammatical rules." As there was no complete list in Hebrew of Jewish literature, he undertook to compile one. Between 1674 and 1679 Bass visited libraries in Poland, Germany, and Holland. In Amsterdam he studied the art of printing and proofreading, and published Massekhet Derekh Ereẓ, a guide book for travelers (1680); the Pentateuch with a super-commentary on Rashi, Siftei Ḥakhamim (1680), a popular commentary often reprinted; and Siftei Yeshenim (1680), a list in Hebrew of some 2,200 Hebraica and Judaica.

 

Hebrew Description:

והוא החלק הראשון מד’ חלקי הדרושים אשר חברתי ... שלמה בן לא"א ... כמהר"אברהם אלגזי נ"ע ... על התורה ועל העבודה ועל ג"ח ...

 

References:

Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000109979; BE alef 731; EJ