Tur Yoreh Deah. Many Unprinted Glosses in the Hand of the Maharsha"k - One of the First Later Authorities and ...

Tur Yoreh Deah. Many Unprinted Glosses in the Hand of the Maharsha"k - One of the First Later Authorities and Author of Tiferet Shmuel as well as Unprinted Glosses from the Sm"a's Study Hall

Tur Yoreh Deah im Beit Yosef. Venice [1564]. Second edition of the Beit Yosef, written in the author's lifetime. Hundreds of glosses in Ashkenazic script by several writers among the early Later Authorities by whose word we live. Incomplete copy.

Autograph by the gaon Rabbi Aharon Shmuel Koidanover - the Maharsha"k - an early Later Authority, author of Tiferet Shmuel on the Ro"sh and the Maharsh"a, printed throughout the generations in the Talmud, father of the "Kav HaYashar" and associate of the author of Siftei Kohen  (the Sha"ch). There are seventy seven glosses in the hand of the Maharsha"k along the book's leaves. [27] of the glosses before us are not printed at all in his book  Tiferet Shmuel. In addition, he occasionally added a few words in his hand to aid with comprehension of the Tur, and these were also not printed. Among the fifty glosses that were printed, there are those that sometimes appear with different wording. Much can be learned from them about the Maharsha"k's study methodology - how he wrote them at first vs. his revised final version.

Glosses from an additional, earlier writer, also one of the early Later Authorities (c. mid-1600s) - scholarly and important glosses, some of which were later printed in the 'Prishah' and 'Drishah' commentaries on the Tur (by the Sm"a), demonstrate that the writer was a disciple of Rabbi Yehoshua HaKohen Falk, author of Sm"a. He also cites the Maharsha"l's glosses on the Tur in these glosses (the Maharsha"l was the Sm"a's teacher). Apparently the glosses were written during the course of lectures given by the Sm"a in his yeshivah, hence the importance of these glosses that do not appear in the 'Prishah' and the 'Drishah.' Several glosses by a third writer were added later, c. the mid-1700s.

Rabbi Aharon Shmuel Koidanover - Maharsha"k [1724-1776] was one of the rabbinic leaders of his generation and one of the early Later Authorities. He served in the rabbinate and as a rosh yeshivah in the most prominent communities in Eastern Europe and in Ashkenaz, (in Mikołów [Nikolsberg] and then in Glogau and in Furth. He also served in the rabbinate of Vilna, Brisk, Frankfurt am Main and finally in Krakow.) The Tiferet Shmuel was a disciple of the renowned gaon Rabbi Heschel of Krakow, author of Chanukat HaTorah. He was a dayan in the author of Chelkat Mechokek's renowned Beit Din, together with his friend the author of Siftei Kohen -  the Sha"ch - and Rabbi Ephraim HaKohen, author of Sha'ar Ephraim. The Cossacks murdered his two daughters during their 1648-9 pogroms [גזירות ת"ח ת"ט]; he himself was badly wounded and lost most of his writings. His only surviving son, Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Koidanover, authored the book Kav HaYashar. The Chid"a wrote of the Tiferet Shmuel: "He increased understanding with his true glosses and novellae, in a concise and proper manner." The Ya"avetz attested that he knew the entire Arba Turim and the Beit Yosef by heart. He authored: Tiferet Shmuel; Birkat HaZevach  on Seder Kodshim; Birkat Shmuel, and Shu"t Emunat Shmuel.

Handwriting expert's confirmation of identity included, as well as material about the glosses and the writers.

The copy before us: approximately [379] leaves, between leaves 1-398. (Lacking the title page, [30] leaves of introduction, and [18] leaves from the body of the book: leaves 29, 31-34, 36, 39-41, 44-47, 50-52, 79, 163, 167). (Originally: [31], 398 leaves.) 33 cm.

Fine condition. Isolated worming perforations. Professional restoration to the margins of some of the leaves. New semi-leather binding.

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