Bidspirit auction | Manuscript – Novellae on Tractate

Manuscript – Novellae on Tractate Kiddushin by Maharam Fischels-Bumsla, Ravad of Prague – With Title Page and an Amusing Colophon – Prague, 1767 - A manuscript booklet of Torah novellae on Tractate Kiddushin by the Gaon Rabbi Meir Fischels-Bumsla, Ravad of Prague, one of the leading Torah scholars of Bohemia some 250 years ago. Prague, 1767. At the beginning of the booklet is a brief title page: “The reasonings of my master and teacher, the renowned Gaon Moreinu HaRav Rabbi Meir Fischels, may his light shine, on Tractate Kiddushin.” The manuscript was written during Rabbi Meir’s lifetime by his student, Rabbi Wolf son of Rabbi Yekutiel Kaufmann of Holesov, as stated in the remarkable colophon at the end of the booklet. The colophon records the scribe’s name, the place and date of writing, together with a humorous warning intended to prevent anyone from stealing the manuscript: “Thus are completed, with the help of God, the reasonings on Tractate Kiddushin of my master and teacher, the renowned Gaon, Head of the Beit Din of the holy community of Prague, Moreinu HaRav Rabbi Meir Fischels, may his light shine. Written and completed today, Wednesday, 14 Shevat 5527, here in the capital city of Prague. And I hereby sign my name, so that worthless men should not come and say that these are theirs. Therefore I sign my name, so that no man from the marketplace should come and make trouble; for I shall give him a ‘klap’ until he cries: ‘Oy vey mir, genug!’ I, the humble Wolf, son of Moreinu HaRav Rabbi Yekutiel Kaufmann, may his light shine, of Holesov in the land of Moravia.” The writer’s intention is clear: he signs the manuscript so that no one else will steal the booklet and claim it as his own. Should anyone attempt to do so, he jokingly threatens to give the thief a “klap” – a blow – until he cries out in Yiddish, “Oy vey mir, genug!” – “Woe is me, enough!” A sample search in the Otzar HaChochma database did not locate these novellae in print. It is possible that they were published in one of the Torah journals. Rabbi Meir Fischels-Bumsla (1703–1770) was one of the foremost disseminators of Torah in Prague, where he taught thousands of students during some forty years of activity. He was among the close disciples of Rabbi Yonatan Eybeschütz and served as Ravad on the Beit Din of the Noda BiYehudah. Especially renowned is the eulogy delivered for him by the Noda BiYehudah, containing extraordinary statements concerning what had been revealed to him in a dream regarding the words he was to deliver in his eulogy (see the introduction to Responsa and Novellae of Rabbeinu Meir Fischels). His son and successor was the Gaon Rabbi Leib Fischels, teacher of Rabbi Betzalel Rensburg and numerous other leading Ashkenazic Torah scholars of the 18th century. [8] leaves, including more than [12] handwritten pages of Torah novellae + title page. Height: approx. 21 cm. Condition: Good. Stains and minor wear. The text is legible.