Halichot Olam – On the Methodology of the Mishnah and Talmud. Mantua, 1593

Halichot Olam, on the ...

Halichot Olam, on the principles and methodology of the Mishnah and the Talmud, by Rabbi Yeshua HaLevi of Tlemcen, together with Mevo HaTalmud attributed to Rabbi Shmuel HaNagid. Printed in Mantua, 1593 (שנ"ג).

One of the most important early works on the rules and methodology of the Talmud. Upon this work Rabbeinu Yosef Karo later composed his Klalei HaGemara, and Rabbi Shmuel Algazi authored Yavin Shemu‘ah.

Rabbi Yeshua HaLevi (early 14th century), among the foremost early sages of Algeria, counted among his known teachers an Ashkenazic scholar, Rabbi Yaakov Cohen. In the introduction to the present work, the author relates that he fled to Spain in 1467 (רכ"ז) and settled in Toledo, where he composed this book at the request of the Nasi Don Vidal ben Lavi. The work became foundational in the literature devoted to the methodological principles of the Talmud.

The Mevo HaTalmud printed at the end of the volume is erroneously attributed on the title page to Rabbi Shmuel HaNagid. Modern scholarship (see S. Abramson, MiTorato shel Rav Shmuel HaNagid miSefarad, Sinai 100 [1987], pp. 22–23) has demonstrated that Rabbi Shmuel HaNagid authored a halachic compendium entitled Hilchata Gavrata (apparently of similar nature), of which only fragments survive.

40 leaves. 19 cm. Good to fair condition; worming and staining; trimmed headlines and margins of the title page with slight loss of text; good binding.