Bidspirit auction | Sefer Tzedah LaDerech. Ferrara, 1554.

Sefer Tzedah LaDerech. Ferrara, 1554. First Edition. Especially Impressive Copy. - Tzedah LaDerech is one of the important and original halachic works of Spanish Jewry, authored by Rabbi Menachem ben Zerach, one of the sages of fourteenth-century Spain and a disciple of Rabbi Yehudah ben HaRosh. The author arranged his work in a systematic and comprehensive structure, dividing it into five sections corresponding to the major areas of Jewish law: The first section deals with the laws of prayer and blessings, paralleling Orach Chaim of the Tur. The second section treats the laws of ritual prohibitions and permissions, paralleling Yoreh De’ah. The third section discusses the laws of marriage and family life, paralleling Even HaEzer. The fourth section concerns Sabbaths and festivals. The fifth section concerns the laws of fast days. The final two sections parallel subjects included in later portions of Orach Chaim. The work concludes with a special discourse on the coming of the Messiah. In his important introduction, the author surveys the transmission of halachic tradition from the completion of the Mishnah until his own day, and sharply criticizes contemporaries who were drawn to philosophy while neglecting the study of halachah. The author also incorporated into this work an abridgment of Chovot HaLevavot, intending that each reader study one gate during each of the Ten Days of Repentance—an eloquent testimony to the union of halachah and ethics within a single volume. At the center of the title page appears the celebrated printer’s device of the Ushki family, within an elegant frame containing an illustration of an astrolabe, accompanied by the verses: “Those who hope in the Lord shall renew their strength...” “I hoped for the Lord; my soul hoped...” On the final leaf the printer’s device appears again, beneath it the colophon: “And the work was completed, a heavenly labor, here in Ferrara, in the noble house of the honorable Rabbi Avraham ben Ushki, may his Rock preserve him.” In the present copy, as in most surviving examples of this edition, leaves 33–37 were omitted during printing for reasons of censorship. These leaves originally contained commentary on Birkat HaMinim, and were replaced with three substitute leaves containing an abbreviated text and lacking pagination—a well-known and significant bibliographical feature of this edition. The present copy: complete, handsome, and of exceptional quality. Aside from a few faint brown stains on several leaves, this is a highly attractive copy, with bright and איכותי paper, wide margins, and an original early leather binding (rebacked spine), decorated with blind tooling and retaining remnants of leather clasps. [14], 32, [3], 38–39, [1], 41–75 leaves. 21 cm. Condition: Very good. Clean white paper. Age stains. Contemporary leather binding with remnants of clasps.