Bidspirit auction | Discovery! Hundreds of Handwritten Glosses

Discovery! Hundreds of Handwritten Glosses of the Ma'amar Mordechai, the Brilliant Gaon Rabbi Mordechai Carmi * Over one hundred notes (some of them lengthy), and approximately 230 brief textual corrections, on the leaves of a volume of the Rif, handwritten by the eminent gaon, Rabbi Mordechai Carmi, Av Beis Din of Carpentras, ”one of the most prominent sages in the communities of southern France since the expulsion from Spain” (Benayahu, in Sefer HaChida, p. 366). He was the famous bar plugta (halachic rival) of the Chida (see below), and his sefer Ma'amar Mordechai is cited about 150 times in the Mishnah Brurah! Rabbi Mordechai explicitly mentions his sefer in several glosses, for example: · ”And in my small sefer Ma'amar Mordechai I have somewhat expanded upon this…” (leaf 92b), and indeed he discusses this in his sefer, Siman 360. · ”And I have already written regarding this in sefer Ma'amar Mordechai, Siman 392” (leaf 107a). The glosses have never been printed! Rabbi Mordechai studied the Rif in great depth, for the Talmud Bavli was not always available to him — see, for example, in his sefer, Ma'amar Mordechai vol. II, leaf 63b: ”And this matter requires investigation in the very text of the Talmud, which at present is not available to us”. In the present glosses he deals primarily with correcting the text of the Rif and the major commentaries, thereby resolving contradictions and difficulties from across the entire Talmud. Calculated reviews reveal that Rabbi Mordechai refers to the Rif in his sefarim over 1,000 times! Rabbi Mordechai Carmi, author of Ma'amar Mordechai (1749–1825) , was one of the preeminent poskim of France and exceptionally learned and sharp, as attested by all the great sages of Livorno, foremost among them the Chida, in their approbations to the first volume of Ma'amar Mordechai. Many of his rulings and comments were cited as halachah both among the Sephardic sages and the Ashkenazi sages. In his later years he wished to move to Eretz Yisrael, but passed away before he was able to do so. Rabbi Mordechai was strong-minded, and the present glosses are at times written in sharp language, owing to the fiery passion for Torah that burned within him. Rabbi A. Belish relates that on one occasion he argued with Rabbi Mordechai for three consecutive days! This sharpness was a central element in the famous dispute that existed between Rabbi Mordechai and the Chida (despite the Chida being some 25 years his senior!), and its imprint remained for generations in their sefarim.  Here is a brief account of the matter: In his sefer Ma'amar Mordechai, vol. I (Livorno, 1784), Rabbi Mordechai raised many sharp questions on the words of the Chida in Birkei Yosef. At that very time, the Chida was in the process of printing his sefer Machzik Bracha, and within the text being published he inserted some sharp answers to his challenger. In 1786, Rabbi Mordechai published the second volume of this sefer, and in 1787 he published the sefer Divrei Mordechai, in which he responds to the Chida’s answers to his initial objections, as well as adding more objections to the Machzik Bracha. The Chida did not continue to reply to Rabbi Mordechai, but in 1792 — five years after the printing of Divrei Mordechai — the Chida printed in his sefer a response from Rabbi Mordechai and his own reply, penned with great respect, and it is clear they had made peace. See: Chida vol. I, pp. 116–121; vol. II, 366–378. Description of the volume: A volume of 122 leaves from the Rif, vol. I, Sulzbach 1762. On Maseches Eruvin and segments of Maseches Shabbos, Pesachim, Taanis and Beitzah. Present here are leaves: 45–140, 170–197 (lacking the beginning and end, and lacking leaves 141–169). Size: 37.8 cm. Condition: Poor, fungus stains and large holes throughout the volume. Please see photos before submitting an offer. By the kindness of Hashem, most of the glosses remain intact, legible, and can be printed. - - - - - - - - - - - - A Chiddush from the Glosses: It is well known that the Rashi commentary on the Rif is not from Rashi himself, but rather a later compilation, and over the generations it was attributed to several different Rabbanim. Rabbi Mordechai, who studied the Rif extensively, as noted above, suggests in his sefer Ma'amar Mordechai that the editor was Rabbi Yehoshua Boaz, author of Shiltei HaGiborim. In one of the present glosses (leaf 92b), Rabbi Mordechai points out a certain difference between the Rashi before us and the Rashi on the Talmud, and writes decisively that the Rashi before us is ”an addition appended by the Shiltei Giborim!”