First edition. [2], 66 ff., sexdecimo, 147:98 mm., light age staining, wide margins. A very good copy bound in contemporary half marbled paper boards, rubbed.

 

Commentary on the Torah by R. Nathan ben Samuel ha-Rofe accompanied by Iggeret ha-Shabbat by the Ibn Ezra. This information is provided on the title page, which adds that these two works were found in manuscript by R. Abraham Baruch (Benedetto) ben Piperno who brought the work to press. The title page is dated “your springs מעינת[י]ך (590 + 10 = 1840) will spread outwards” (Proverbs 5:16). The [י] in the verse, omitted from the title page as an oversight, is necessary for the calculation. The introduction, which follows the title page, is by R. Abraham. He writes that this work was written on old parchment and that he did not know who the author was or why it was called Mivhar ha-Ma’amarim, although the manuscript bore the name R. Nathan ben Samuel ha-Rofe. However, after having read the work of Giovanni de Rossi in Italian (Dizionario storico degli autori ebrei e delle loro opera) he notes that the author is given as Natan (ben Samuel Tibbon) who wrote, in 1307, Zikkaron Tov, and that it is also mentioned in and Shabbetai Bass’s Siftei Yeshenim. R. Abraham writes that the commentary is based on peshat and mussar from earlier sages such as the rambam, Ibn Ezra, and Ralbag, as well as bringing allusions from kabbalistic sources. The text, in rabbinic letters, is arranged by parshah. Most entries begin “thus says the author,” a small number with another phrase. Mivhar ha-Ma’amarim concludes on 54a. From 54a to 57b is additional material that R. Abraham writes he found in Zikkaron Tov.

R. Nathan ben Samuel ha-Rofe was a Spanish physician who lived, as far as is known, at the beginning of the fourteenth century. He is designated in some manuscripts by the abbreviation which some render Nathan ben Samuel Tibbon, and others, more correctly perhaps, “May his soul rest in the shadow of the Most High.” R. Nathan wrote a commentary on the Pentateuch, entitled Zikkaron Tov, in about 1307; the abridged of that work is Mivhar ha-Ma’amarim. R. Nathan has been confused with other several other Nathans, for example, the citation above.

The volume concludes (58a-66a) with Iggeret Shabbat, a responsum on the Sabbath, by R. Abraham Ibn Ezra (1089–1164) dated 1158.

 

Hebrew Description

([על] התורה... בדרך הנסתר [לפי סדר הפרשיות]) להרב נתן בר שמואל הרופא ז"ל (לקט וברר... מדברי המחברים בעלי הפשט והמוסר שקדמוהו... בתוספת נפך משלו) וחוברה לו אגרת השבת להראב"ע [רבי אברהם אבן-עזרא] ז"ל בשלימותה. שני החבורים האלה נמצאו כתובים ביד... ר' אברהם ברוך פיפירנו נר"ו אשר הביאם לבית הדפוס והגיהם...

דף נד-נז: גם זה מצאתי כתוב מנמוקי הרב המחבר זלה"ה בספרו הנקרא זכרון טוב. דף [נח] - טו: אגרת השבת. ר' אברהם ברוך פיפירנו כותב ב"הקדמת המגיה": "העתקתיה מספר כ"י שנכתב בליידא בשנת חמשת אלפים ומאה ושתים וארבעים... נדפסה כמה פעמים בלתי שלימה וגפ אותה שהדפיסו בעיר הזאת בספר מנחת יוסף [לר' יוסף אירגאס, ליוורנו תקפ"ז] אינה כוללת כי אם ההקדמה והחרוזים שאחריה וזה המעט מלא טעיות ... ותראה... באגרת הזאת... שהיא שלימה". על תיקון הפרט "מעינתיך", עי' אגרות שד"ל, ח, עמ' 1204.