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Sefer Yesod: Glosses of the Noda B’Yehuda on the Shulchan Aruch – Dagul Merivava. First Edition. Prague, 1794 * Glosses and halachic chiddushim on the four sections of the Shulchan Aruch, copied from the manuscript of the Shulchan Aruch belonging to Rabbi Yechezkel Landau, Av Beis Din of Prague and author of Shu”t Noda B’Yehuda. A sefer yesod on the Shulchan Aruch. From this edition onward, these glosses were printed in most editions of the Shulchan Aruch together with its classic commentaries, on the page itself. Structure of the sefer: Printed at the beginning of each of the four sections of the Shulchan Aruch are tables of corrections to printing errors in the Shulchan Aruch, entitled “Shulchan HaTahor, ” followed by the chiddushim printed under the title “Dagul Merivava.” Rabbi Yechezkel Landau, Av Beis Din of Prague (1713–1793) , was born in the city of Apta in Poland. In his youth, he studied at the famous kloiz in Brod, where he gained mastery of both the Revealed and the Hidden Torah. He served as a dayan in one of the four batei din of Brody, and from 1745, as Av Beis Din of Yampoli. In 1755, he became Rav of the illustrious city of Prague, where he founded an important yeshiva that produced numerous Torah giants. He held this distinguished position for nearly forty years. His printed works include: Shu”t Noda B’Yehuda, Tzelach on Shas, Dagul Merivava on Shulchan Aruch (presented here), and collections of drashos. “Dagul Merivava” has the same numerical value as “Yechezkel HaLevi Landau” (292). Prague 1794. First edition. Page Count: [8], 68 leaves. Size: Medium format. Condition: Good, some stains. Worn antique binding. Affixed to the lower part of the reverse of the title page is a printed slip from the publisher, in which he relates that he had intended to print a correction sheet as was customary, but since there were almost no errors and there was no need to print an entire leaf for merely two lines of corrections, he therefore printed the corrections on this small slip. This pasted slip is found in most copies, and is a phenomenon not commonly encountered in the history of Hebrew printing. - - - - - - - - - - - - -  There are numerous approbations from Gedolei Hador at the beginning of the sefer, among them the Hafla’ah and Rabbi Tzvi Hersch, Av Beis Din of Berlin (in it, there is an important and historical reference to the controversy surrounding his son concerning the “Besamim Rosh” — a reference almost entirely unknown in scholarly research), as well as approbations from other Gedolei Hador. Some of the approbations were given for Tzelach on Beitzah, which was only printed in 1799. The reason the sefer Dagul Merivava was printed before Tzelach is explained by the publisher, the author's son, who writes in his introduction that he originally wished to print Tzelach on Beitzah first, in accordance with his father’s request. However, talmidei chachamim approached him and explained that Tzelach was intended primarily for lamdanim and Gedolei Hador, who were relatively few, and in any event, many were already familiar with the commentators discussed there. The Dagul Merivava, by contrast, was intended for every shochet u’bodek in every town, since it deals with practical halacha, and therefore it should take precedence.