Bidspirit auction | Be’er Sheva. Venice, 1614. First

Be’er Sheva. Venice, 1614. First Edition. Author’s Personal Copy with his Handwritten Glosses  * Sefer Be’er Sheva with hundreds of corrections as well as marginal notes, all in the handwriting of the author, Rabbi Yissachar Ber Eilenburg, one of the greatest of the Achronim. Rabbi Yissachar Ber Eilenburg (1550–1623) was one of the leading Achronim. The author of Panim Me'iros testified in his teshuvos (Vol. II, Sulzbach, 1733, §179): “It is well known throughout the world that the author of Be’er Sheva was one of the greatest of the Achronim.” A disciple of the Levush and the Sema, he also studied Kabbalah from Rabbi Yisrael Saruk, disciple of the Arizal, and he recorded teachings from him that were later copied by Rabbi Menachem Azariah of Pano, as noted in the introduction. He served as a Rav in Italy, where one of his distinguished disciples was Rabbi Azariah Figo, author of Bina Le’itim. He became renowned throughout the Jewish world for his sefer yesod, Be’er Sheva on the Shas, written to address sugyos lacking Tosafos, and concluding with a section of halachic responsa. The sefer contains a rare approbation from the Maharal of Prague. Unfortunately, most of the marginal annotations were trimmed in the past; nevertheless, some complete annotations remain intact. The attribution of these glosses to the author is certain and beyond doubt. Anyone examining them can immediately discern that the corrections and notes are in the author’s own handwriting, written in the first person: “As I have already mentioned above” (30a), “and this question has been strengthened in my eyes” (29a), “long after this was printed I found…” (17b). The text includes precise emendations that only the author himself could have made in his own sefer — for example, on leaf [12a], in the index, he notes: “The printers erred here, for this belongs within the sefer itself.” This comment also has practical implications: some claimed that the notes were not made by the author but by a disciple who edited the sefer, yet from this remark it is evident that they stem directly from the author himself (see Etz Chaim [Bobov] vol. 17, p. 434, where this was discussed by the son-in-law of Rabbi Raphael Reichman, owner of the sefer). On leaf 95a, the phrase “the writer said” was corrected to “the author said.” Entire lines were deleted, and in 29b he quotes “my teacher, the Maharam, ” referring to his rebbi the Maharam Yaffe, whose words indeed appear in Levush Ha’Orah. The handwriting of the Be’er Sheva is exceedingly rare. The glosses and corrections on Maseches Kerisos were printed based on this copy in Otzar Chiddushim al Maseches Kerisos (Jerusalem, 2004). Venice, 1614. First Edition. Page Count: [17], 122 leaves. Size: 29 cm. Condition: Lacking title page, worn, water stains, several marginal corner tears to final leaves. New binding. Bibliography: Stefansky, Sifrei Yesod, no. 70. Provenance: Collection of Rabbi Raphael Reichmann z”l. ________ Several additional glosses in a different handwriting are signed at the end with: ”The humble Shlomo” and once “the humble Shlomo called Muna, ” likely Rabbi Shlomo Muna, Av Beis Din of Schwarzentz, author of Chatzer HaChadasha and Even HaTo’im that remains in manuscript form (held in the Bodleian Library, Oxford). Two further glosses are signed with the initials: אס״ר. ------------------------------- Any inquiries about this lot? We are also available on WhatsApp >>>