Manuscript - Seder HaGet L'Arusah - By Rabbi Yishmael HaCohen of Modena, Author of Zera Emet

Manuscript - Seder HaGet L'Arusah - By Rabbi Yishmael HaCohen of Modena, Author of Zera Emet
Manuscript, Seder Get L'Arusah (arrangement of a divorce bill [Get] for a betrothed woman [arusah]), by R. Yishmael HaCohen, rabbi of Modena, author of Zera Emet. [Italy, 18th century or beginning of 19th century].
The manuscript is composed of 138 detailed clauses of all the practical steps and laws for writing a get for an arusah, including the conduct of the husband, the scribe and the witnesses and the manner the get is delivered to the woman. Cursive, neat Italian Hebrew script, with many handwritten additions by the author. In these additions, the author mentions several times the arrangement of a get titled Michtav L'Chizkiyahu by R. Chizkiya Mordechai Bassan (Pnei Yitzchak, Mantova, 1743), and the arrangement of a get in the Shemesh Tzedakah responsa by R. Shimshon Morpurgo (Venice, 1743).
R. David Sassoon (Ohel David, Manuscript no. 927) attributes this manuscript to R. Yishmael HaCohen of Modena. The style of writing indicates that this is an autograph of the author, with revisions and additions. The handwriting is similar to the handwriting in another document written by R. Yishmael HaCohen with his signature "Dictates and signs" (Shenot Dor VaDor, Vol. 1, pp. 328-329 - see enclosed photocopy).
R. Yishmael HaCohen, Rabbi of Modena (1724-1810), was a leading Italian sage and prominent posek. In 1782, after the death of his brother R. David HaCohen, rabbi of Modena, he began serving as Rabbi of Modena, which was one of the largest Torah centers in 18th century Italy. For decades, R. Yishmael was Rabbi and leader in Modena and in actuality of entire Italy. During this era, R. Yishmael's opinions were the final deciding factor of halachic issues, community matters and all Jewish affairs in Italy. "His rulings were unequivocally accepted and he was famed as a genius posek and as the determining opinion" (the biography of the author at the beginning of the book Shevach Pesach, Jerusalem, 1997). At the time the Jewish "Sanhedrin" was instituted by Napoleon in 1806, R. Yishmael HaCohen wrote a detailed response to 12 questions asked by Napoleon about the relativity between the state law and the Jewish law [the primary reason Napoleon wanted to institute the "Sanhedrin" was his wish to "adjust the faith" of the Jews to their "obligations as French [citizens]"]. At that time, R. Yishmael HaCohen was 83 years old and he could not travel to participate in the session of the Sanhedrin, but his wise and unflinching words constituted the halachic basis of the words of the "Sanhedrin" of the Jewish sages who represented the Italian region. The three parts of his book Zera Emet responsa on the Shulchan Aruch (Livorno, 1783-1812) only cover the parts of Orach Chaim and Yoreh Deah, but his works on Even HaEzer and on Choshen Mishpat are still in manuscripts. This is a remnant of the Torah teachings of that illustrious posek on Even HaEzer with many novellae of practical halacha on the laws of writing and delivering a divorce document.
Many compositions about arranging gittin were written by leading poskim, Rishonim and Achronim. Certain specifics required for a get of an arusah [a woman who had received kiddushin, yet did not enter the chuppah] differ from the regular get of a married woman. Most books about arrangements of a get do not discuss a get for an arusah, due to the rarity of separating the kiddushin rites from the chuppah [the early custom of doing so has been cancelled in most Jewish communities and at the time this composition was written this separation was only practiced in certain areas of northern Italy and Oriental countries. For details regarding the various customs of erusin and nisu'in, see essay by David Sassoon, Igrot Paras V'Teiman, HaTzofeh L'Chochmat Yisrael, 9, Budapest 1925, pp. 211-212].
5 pages. 29 cm. Good condition. New binding.
Provenance: Sassoon family collection. Ohel David, Manuscript no. 927.