Bidspirit auction | Sefer Yesod: Shu”t Tzemach Tzedek

Sefer Yesod: Shu”t Tzemach Tzedek HaKadmon Amsterdam, 1675. First Edition. * A collection of 129 halachic responsa by the renowned gaon Rabbi Menachem Mendel Krochmal, Av Beis Din of Nikolsburg, the primary disciple of the Bach, and one of the leading Ashkenazic poskim of the seventeenth century. Rabbi Menachem Mendel was one of the greatest halachic authorities of his time — the era of the Torah giants Tosfos Yom Tov, the Taz, the Shach, the Sha’ar Ephraim, and others. His sefer Shu”t Tzemach Tzedek became one of the most important responsa works of its time and was reprinted in several subsequent editions. The volume also includes responsa from other famous Torah luminaries, including the Tosfos Yom Tov (see teshuvos nos. 14 and 69). The title “Tzemach Tzedek” has the same gematria as the author's name, Menachem Mendel. Among Torah scholars, this work is commonly referred to as the ‘Tzemach Tzedek HaKadmon’ — ‘the Early Tzemach Tzedek, ’ to distinguish it from the Shu”t Tzemach Tzedek of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, which was published approximately two centuries later. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Krochmal (d. 1661) was one of the foremost halachic authorities of his generation for many decades. He moved from Poland to Moravia, where he became Rav of the prominent community of Nikolsburg. His son-in-law was the gaon Rabbi Gershon Ashkenazi, author of Avodas HaGershuni, who wrote of him: “Who could compare to him in rendering halachic decisions? No one who sought his guidance was ever turned away.” Rabbi Dovid Oppenheim of Prague described him as “the great luminary whose light guided multitudes” (printed at the beginning of Avodas HaGershuni; Rabbi Oppenheim was a disciple of the Avodas HaGershuni). His principal — and virtually only — work is the present Tzemach Tzedek. He also studied Kabbalah and composed a brief commentary on words in the Zohar, but we have not seen that work. The sefer was published by the author's son and successor, Rabbi Aryeh Yehudah Leib, Av Beis Din of Nikolsburg. A note printed at the end of the volume relates that some of the son's annotations were lost in the mail during the upheaval following the expulsion of the Jews from Vienna in 1670. Amsterdam, 1675. First edition. Page Count: [1], 11, 5–196 leaves. Size: Medium format. Condition: Good. Border of title-page slightly trimmed. A few stains and repairs. Signature on the verso of the title page: Rabbi Yehudah son of Rabbi Eliezer zt”l, of Nikolsburg (the author's own city).