Bidspirit auction | Lost Leaves of the Talmud

Lost Leaves of the Talmud that Survived the Portuguese Inquisition Among the Rarest in the World! Three Incunabula Leaves of Maseches Brachos Faro (Portugal) before 1497 * Three medium-format, almost complete leaves from a Portuguese edition of Maseches Brachos, rescued from a binding's genizah. They are exceedingly rare remnants of Portuguese masechtos of the Talmud, printed shortly before the destruction of Portuguese Jewry in 1497. The vast majority of these masechtos were destroyed by the Inquisition. They were printed in the city of Faro, Portugal, before 1497 — the year of the expulsion and destruction of Portuguese Jewry. These leaves contain the ancient Spanish version of the Talmud, a version which has almost entirely been lost. Only a few fragmentary leaves remain and no complete copy is known to exist anywhere in the world (see below). On the eve of Tisha B’Av in 1492, the Jews of Spain were expelled, ending centuries of flourishing Jewish life in Spain. Many refugees fled to neighboring Portugal, but there too they found no rest, for in 1497 the decree of forced conversion was enacted, by which all Jews were baptized against their will. The Inquisition pursued the Jews with cruelty, burned countless anusim in the auto-da-fé, and destroyed every trace of Jewish life — including eradicating the sacred sefarim of the Jewish people. Until some 120 years ago, many scholars believed that “the Portuguese masechtos” never existed, as no one had ever seen them. Rabbi Yitzchak Lampronti, an Italian sage in the 18th century and author of Pachad Yitzchak, did mention having seen a distinct version in a “Portuguese-printed Gemara.” However, in an essay on the printing of the Talmud (published about 150 years ago) it was conjectured that what the Pachad Yitzchak had seen was a Constantinopolitan edition and not a Portuguese one and that “it seems the Talmud was never printed in Portugal.” In 1908, new fragments of Maseches Gittin were discovered (strikingly similar to the present fragments of Maseches Brachos), including a colophon stating explicitly: “...in the year ‘U’va’u Tzion Berinah’ [=1497], under the auspices of the esteemed Don Shmuel Portiro, may he live, in the city of Faro” (see Yakerson, introduction to Vol. I). Based on this colophon of Gittin, the place and approximate date of printing for the present leaves of Maseches Brachos have been established. In this edition, the lost Spanish text of Maseches Brachos was printed from a manuscript. It differs markedly in wording, structure, and typographical layout from the familiar “tzuras hadaf” of the Talmud known for the past 500 years. The Bomberg Talmud was printed not long thereafter and its printers followed the French–Ashkenazic version, and the Spanish version was forgotten. Only scattered remnants of it survive — in fragments of Spanish and Portuguese editions such as the present leaves, and in quotations in Spanish sefarim (for example, Ein Yaakov, though even there only in its first edition). Beyond the variant text, the printing style itself is unique as it was printed without Tosfos (which originate from Ashkenazic scholars), and the commentary of Rashi appears in square type rather than in Rashi script. This is an edition of utmost rarity . Maseches Brachos apparently comprised about 70–80 leaves, yet from all the libraries of the world only 19 different leaves are known! (Maseches Gittin also survived only partially, with 31 known leaves.) The third of the present three leaves is not found in the National Library of Israel, and even the two others contain words and lines missing from the library’s copy (while that copy, in turn, has some lines lacking here). Description: [3] nearly complete leaves. Faro, before 1497. Printed in large square Spanish type; Rashi commentary in smaller square Spanish letters. Leaf 1 – corresponds to Brachos 48b–49a found in the standard 'tzuras hadaf'. Size: approx. 15.1×28 cm. Leaf 2 – corresponds to Brachos 49a–50a; a direct continuation of Leaf 1. Size: approx. 18.3×28.5 cm. Leaf 3 – corresponds to Brachos 57b. Size: approx. 19.6×18.6 cm. Condition: Extracted from a binding genizah and their condition reflects this. Text loss, noticeable stains, and holes. It is very rare to find entire leaves. Bibliography: Photographic reproduction of these six pages: C. Z. Dimitrovsky, Sridei Bavli, New York 1979, Vol. I, plates 17a, 18a, 19a, 20a, 42a, 42c. On the place and date of printing: Shimon Yakerson, Catalogue of Hebrew Incunabula from the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York–Jerusalem 2004, Vol. I, pp. 22–23; C. Z. Dimitrovsky, Sridei Bavli, Bibliographical–Historical Introduction, pp. 15ff. Bibliographic Reference: Yakerson, Vol. II, pp. 465–466; Offenberg, Hebrew Incunabula in Public Collections, 1990, p. 156, no. 120; Yitzchak Yudlov, Ginzei Yisrael – Osef Mehlmann, Jerusalem 1985, no. 18 (National Library copy). Stefansky,