Physical Description

Only edition. X, [1], II, 25, [3], 26 pp.,folio, 330:204 mm., light age staining, wide margins. A good copy bound in recent boards, rubbed.

Bound with Pe'at haShulhan, second edition, Jerusalem 1911.

Detail Description

Pilpulim in six parts by R. Solomon Zalman ben Joseph Gad Mordecai Emmerich (Gomperz), rosh bet din, Prague. The title-page informs that added to this work is a preface with the history of the distinguished Emmerich-Gomperz family over four hundred years by R. Bezalel ben Zalman Wolf Fisher. Also added is Amtahat ha-Katan, novellae on tractate Keritot by R. Wolf Emmerich, av bet din Neustatl. There are also novellae from R. Natanel Emmerich, av bet din Ayltvah, on various sugyot. The preface follows, then a second title-page for the text of Shishah Zerone Arugah, an introduction, and then the novellae in six parts. Next, with its own title-page is Amtahat ha-Katan

The distinguished Gomperz family was widely dispersed throughout Central Europe. In records of the 14 century the old-German form of the name "Gundbert" began appearing as a surname for persons with the name Ephraim or Mordecai. Occurring in variant spellings as Gumpert, Gumpertz, Gomperts, Gumpel, etc., it became associated with a specific family prominent in the late 15 century, in the duchy of Juelich-Cleves, when Solomon ben Mordecai Gumpel received the right of residence in Emmerich. His immediate descendants settled in nearby Cleves, Wesel, and Nijmegen; branches of the family were eventually found in England, Amsterdam, Berlin, Frankfurt on the Main, Prague, and the United States (Samuel Gompers ). David Kaufmann , who married into the Budapest branch, traced, in cooperation with Max Freudenthal, the genealogy of the family.

Solomon's grandson Elijah (d. 1689) founded the family banking business in Wesel (Cleves) which soon became one of the largest in Prussia. His son Reuben Elias assisted in the rapid expansion of business. After moving to Berlin he became the first Jew to serve as a government official in Brandenburg; he subsequently became the chief inspector of taxes payable by the Jews in the duchies of Mark and Cleves (about 1700). He also acted as supplier to the army and to the court, and through these transactions came into contact with all the important Jewish court suppliers of his time, including Samuel Oppenheimer , Leffmann Behrends , and Behrend Lehmann . Falsely accused of the attempted murder of Samson Wertheimer , he was arrested by order of Frederick I and released a year later after payment of 20,000 talers.

Two members of the third generation of Court Jews in this family, Moses Levi and Elijah, established a banking and business house in Berlin at the beginning of the 18 century. In Prussia, members of the Gomperz family served as court purveyors to six rulers in the course of five generations. To Frederick I (1688–1713), the luxury-loving first king of Prussia, they supplied jewels, and to the soldier-king, Frederick William I (1713–1740), "tall fellows" for his guard. At the time of Frederick the Great (1740–1786), they changed their activities to minting. In conjunction with the Court Jew Daniel Itzig they rented the minting monopoly. In Berlin, Aaron Elias Gomperz, physician, writer, and teacher of Moses Mendelssohn, became celebrated. Members of the Gomperz family also served as Landesrabbiner (Cleves and Silesia) and Oberrabbiner (Ansbach). Many created influential positions for themselves, aided by their family relations with other Court Jews.

In Bohemia-Moravia a noteworthy member of the family was SALOMON (SALMAN) EMMERICH (1662–1728), who studied medicine at Leiden and practiced in Metz and Soest before establishing himself in Prague. He was the first Prague Jew to be freed by imperial order from wearing the obligatory neck-frill. His son Moses Saloman Gomperz (d. 1742) was permitted to practice medicine by Prague University after passing an examination, and was the first Jew to graduate from a German university, in Frankfurt on the Oder, in 1721.

Hebrew Description:

... נוסף לזה נפח משלי ... בצלאל בן מהו' זלמן וואלף פישער מבוא אל הספר והוא כולל זכרונות ימי קדם ממשפחת עמריך-גאמפערטץ משך ד' מאות שנה. ועוד הוספנו ס' אמתחת הקטן, חדושים על מס' כריתות מהגאון ר' וואלף עמריך ז"ל שהיה אב"ד דעיר חדש >וואאג ניישטאטל< גם לרבות חדושים באיזה סוגיות בגמרא מבנו הגאון ר' נתנאל עמריך ז"ל אב"ד דק"ק אילאווא ...

עמ' [II]-X: מבוא, מאת בצלאל פישער.
[1], II, כה עמ' כוללים ס' ששה זרעוני ערוגה עם שער מיוחד שהועתק מההוצאה הראשונה.
[3], כו עמ' האחרונים כוללים: ספר אמתחת הקטן על מסכתא כריתות.
חידושים וביאורים, והרבה פסקי רמב"ם מהל' שגגות בו מבוארים ... [עם שער מיחד].
עמ' [כד]-כו: ספיחי עמרים איזה גרגרים ח"ת [חידושי תרוה] מבנו הגאון ר' נתנאל עמריך ...

References:

BE shin 2437; EJ; Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000121138