Bidspirit auction | Maginei Zahav – A Defense

Maginei Zahav – A Defense of the Taz Against the Shach's Critiques – Prague, 1720 * This sefer stands at the center of one of the most famous halachic controversies in the world of halacha. In 1646, two monumental commentaries on the Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah, appeared for the first time: the Taz (Turei Zahav) by Rabbi Dovid HaLevi Segal, and the Shach (Sifsei Kohen) by Rabbi Shabsai HaKohen. Both works were quickly recognized as sifrei yesod, and to this day they are studied in every beis medrash devoted to the study of halacha. Although both commentaries address the same areas of halacha, they disagree in many details. In many cases, they reached entirely different practical conclusions, and each subjected the other's opinions to sharp scholarly criticism. The Taz completed the printing of his sefer shortly before the publication of the Shach. After studying the Shach's work, he printed a special leaf containing a number of objections to the Shach's words. That additional leaf was inserted into only a portion of the copies of the Taz and is today exceptionally rare. The Shach, in turn, disagreed with the Taz, and composed an entire sefer entitled ‘Nekudos HaKesef, ’ in which he responded at length to the Taz's criticisms and challenged many of his halachic rulings. He also wrote a Kuntres Acharon, where he addressed the objections that the Taz had published on that rare additional leaf. An unusual situation now arose: The sefer Nekudos HaKesef was printed only many years after the Taz had passed away. As a result, the Taz himself was never able to answer the Shach's critiques against him. To fill that void, the Taz's grandson, Rabbi Yoel, Av Beis Din of Shebreshin, composed the present work, Maginei Zahav. His purpose was to defend his grandfather's positions and respond to the Shach's objections in Nekudos HaKesef. The sefer ultimately became an integral part of the halachic discussion; anyone studying the Shach's criticisms of the Taz consults the responses found in Maginei Zahav as well. The importance of this work was so great that already during the eighteenth century, an edition was published in which Nekudos HaKesef and Maginei Zahav appeared side by side on the same page, enabling the learner to examine both sides of the debate simultaneously. At the beginning of the present edition there are approbations of the Gedolei Hador, including the endorsement of the rabbanim of Poland who convened at the Gormnitz Fair in 1683. That approbation states that, in disputes between the Taz and the Shach, preference should generally be given to the rulings of the Taz, in part because he was considerably older than the Shach and was already recognized as one of the foremost halachic authorities of his generation. Indeed, the Taz was several decades older than the Shach and also outlived him by many years. In his introduction, the publisher relates that the present work represents only a small remnant of the extensive material the author had written in defense of the Taz, while many other sections were lost over the years. Prague, 1720. First rare edition. Page Count: 26 leaves. Size: Approx. 18 cm. Condition: Good. Holes throughout the leaves. A few stains. A few headings are partially trimmed. On the title page are the signature and stamp of Rabbi Moshe Sofer of Siebenbürgen (1841–1927), son of the Ksav Sofer and grandson of the Chasam Sofer. Additional signatures: “Kalman Segal…”; “Avraham Segal Farkash.” Bibliography: Stefansky, Sifrei Yesod, no. 161 (notes); Pinkas Vaad Arba Aratzos, Jerusalem, 1990, pp. 182–183.