Bidspirit auction | Sefer Yesod: Nefutzos Yehudah The

Sefer Yesod: Nefutzos Yehudah The Famous Drashos of Rabbi Yehudah Moscato Venice, 1589. First Edition. *   Nefutzos Yehudah, containing fifty-two drashos arranged according to the yearly cycle, by the great scholar and darshan Rabbi Yehudah Moscato, one of the leading rabbanim of Italy in the sixteenth century. His drashos are masterfully structured and display remarkable literary craftsmanship. They became very famous in his time, and, as recorded in Toldos Gedolei Yisrael u’Geonei Italia (p. 126), “He became famous as a great darshan.” A sefer yesod in the literature of drashos. Rabbi Yehoshua Katzenellenbogen (the father of Rabbi Shaul Wahl, the legendary “King of Poland for One Day”) described Rabbi Yehudah’s unique style in his eulogy for him: “This Torah scholar presents his words with sound judgment and fittingly arranges his drasha. He begins with an engaging Aggadah that captures the hearts of his audience, so that even ba’alei batim never tire of hearing him… yet the essence of his drasha centers on practical laws and halacha” (Shneim Asar Drashos, Drasha 3). Several of the drashos are eulogies delivered for great rabbanim, including Rabbi Moshe Provenzalo, Av Beis Din of Mantua, and Rabbi Yitzchak Foua, father-in-law of the Rema of Fano. Rabbi Yehudah Moscato (d. 1590) was a disciple of Rabbi Moshe Provenzalo, Av Beis Din of Mantua, who praised him as “pure and upright in his deeds, possessing an exceptionally elevated soul.” In 1587, he was appointed Av Beis Din and Rosh Yeshiva in Mantua, becoming one of the most well-known rabbinic leaders of Italy. His disciples included Rabbi Avraham Mesha’ar Aryeh, author of Shiltei HaGiborim. He is also renowned for his classic commentary on the Kuzari, Kol Yehudah, which was published in 1594, after his passing. In the same eulogy as above, Rabbi Yehoshua Katzenellenbogen described him as “a prince and great leader in Yisrael… in whom all the qualities befitting a Torah scholar were found in perfection.” Venice, 1589. First edition. Page Count: 14, 239 leaves. Height: 19.5 cm.   Condition: Fine margins. A few leaves have been bound out of sequence. Good to fair condition. A few leaves have several small holes running through them, some professionally restored. A few stains. Antique binding, restored, with new leather clasps. On the front flyleaf is a handwritten dedication and signature of Rabbi Yaakov Meir Lehren (brother of Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Lehren; both were heads of the Pekidim and Amarkalim organization), presented to Rabbi Koppel Bamberger, Av Beis Din of Worms, dated Düsseldorf, 1835. Rabbi Yaakov Koppel Bamberger was a leading Rav in Germany and maintained extensive correspondence with the Lehren family (see Yerushaseinu, vol. 9, p. 339). One of his best-known disciples was Rabbi Tzvi Binyamin Auerbach, Av Beis Din of Halberstadt. The title page bears the stamp of Rabbi Ben Zion Ettlinger, son of the Aruch LaNer. Among his possessions were several manuscripts of Rabbi Yaakov Koppel Bamberger, which were offered for sale in Bobruisk in 1914 by the book dealer Yaakov Ginzburg. Provenance: Baranovich Auction (2007). Bibliography: Stefansky, Sifrei Yesod, no. 488.