Bidspirit auction | Sefer Yesod: Shu” t Mahar”

Sefer Yesod: Shu” t Mahar” i Weil, with Shechitos U'Bedikos. First Edition. Venice, 1549. * Responsa of Mahar”i Weil, containing several works of great importance for customs of Ashkenazi Jewry at the end of the Rishonim period, by the Gaon Rabbeinu Yaakov Weil (Mahar”i), one of the greatest Ashkenazi poskim in the era of the Rishonim. The work includes: * She'elos U'Tshuvos and laws . There are 193 simanim. * The laws of shechitah and bedikos . This is an enormous treatise on the laws of shechitah according to Ashkenazi customs, and every shochet and bodek in every town has studied this sefer or its laws as brought down in hundreds of sefarim. * Dinim and Halachos , in brief. There are 71 sections. This is the first edition of Shu” t Mahar”i Weil. Only a single copy of the first edition of Shechitos U'Bedikos is known in the world (Prague, c. 1529). As a result, this edition stands as the earliest existing version of this important work.  Rabbeinu Mahar”i Weil (d. before approx. 1455) was one of the leading rabbanim in Ashkenazi lands in the fifteenth century, together with Mahar”i Rabbi Yisrael Isserlein. He was one of the greatest disciples of the Maharil, Rabbi Yaakov Moelin. His sefer of She'elos U'Tshuvos and his sefer Shechitos U'Bedikos are amongst the most important Ashkenazi sifrei psak of his time, and were the basis for many halachic rulings of the Rema, Maharshal, and other Ashkenazi poskim, and even of the Beis Yosef. ”The shochtim and bodkim do not study the Tur and Shulchan Aruch; their main study is from Shechitos U'Bedikos of Mahar'i Weil” (Beis Hillel, Yoreh Deah Siman 25 161). The Maharshal similarly wrote: ”He was the leader amongst the Achronim and from his waters, all those who followed him drank” (Yam Shel Shlomo, Gittin 82, Siman 24). Venice, 1549. Page Count: 115 leaves. First edition of Shu” t Mahar” i Weil and second edition of Shechitos U'Bedikos. Page Count: 115 leaves. Size: 20 cm. Condition: Good. Minor restoration repairs to the title page and several additional leaves; a few small holes. Stains at the top of the leaves. Bibliography : Stefansky, Sifrei Yesod # 272. – – – – – Two more works from Ashkenazi rabbanim were printed at the end of the sefer: A . Chiddushei Agudah on Shas by Rabbi Alexander Zuslin, author of HaAguda; B . Nimukei Mahara”r Menachem MiRizboruk. These were in the possession of Mahar”i Weil, as is recalled in teshuva 133.