Bidspirit auction | Me‘il Tzedakah. Rabbi Jonah Landsofer.

Me‘il Tzedakah. Rabbi Jonah Landsofer. Prague, 1756. First edition - Sefer Me‘il Tzedakah. Responsa by Rabbi Jonah Landsofer, with a treatise on geometry and diagrams. Prague, 1756. First edition. Me‘il Tzedakah is a halakhic responsa work by Rabbi Jonah Landsofer. On the title page it is stated that the author concealed his name; however, his identity is explicitly mentioned in the important approbations. The volume is adorned with approbations of the rabbis of Prague, foremost among them Rabbi Ezekiel Landau, author of Noda BiYehudah, along with additional endorsements. The author was a hidden righteous figure in Prague, with expertise not only in Torah scholarship but also in engineering and other sciences. This is evident throughout his responsa, in which he occasionally includes engineering-style diagrams to clarify his arguments. At the end of the book are several appended pages titled a “treatise … compiled from the works of Euclid and his colleagues, of great necessity to our Torah in several places, ” featuring geometric and engineering diagrams—triangles, various angles, and related figures. In this regard, the author preceded the disciple of the Vilna Gaon, Rabbi Baruch Schick, who printed Euclid’s work in Amsterdam in 1780. With owners’ signatures. [6], 82 leaves. Size: 20.5 cm. Condition: Very good. Fine-quality paper. Original leather binding, with a damaged spine.