Bidspirit auction | Lechem Setarim – Commentary on

Lechem Setarim – Commentary on Tractate Avodah Zarah. Strasbourg, 1777. - An important scholarly work on Tractate Avodah Zarah by the illustrious wonder-working Gaon Rabbi Shlomo Algazi, one of the prominent sages of the eighteenth century. Lechem Setarim is renowned for its lucid analysis and systematic clarification of complex passages in the tractate and earned widespread esteem in the Torah world. The edition before us is the second edition, printed in Strasbourg in 1777, and includes the approbation of the Gaon Rabbi Yechezkel Landau, the Noda BiYehudah, one of the foremost halachic authorities of his generation. The very presence of his approbation attests to the importance of the work and its standing as a foundational text in the study of the tractate. On leaf [3] appears an “Introduction in Honor of the Gaon Author” by Rabbi Joseph David Sinzheim (printed anonymously), who would later become Chief Rabbi of Strasbourg and one of the leading figures of French Jewry. On leaf [4] appears the printer’s introduction, containing a fascinating account of his visit to the home of Rabbi Joseph David Sinzheim, where he found “a house full of books, ” among them Lechem Setarim. The printer relates that he requested permission to bring the work once again to the printing press, and the rabbi gave it to him “without charge and without payment, in order to benefit the public”—a moving testimony to the spirit of Torah dissemination in that era. [4], 120, 14 leaves. 19.5 cm. Good condition. Aging stains. New half-leather binding.