Bidspirit auction | Rare Sefer: Yemin Moshe –

Rare Sefer: Yemin Moshe – A Concise Guide to the Laws of Shechitah by One of the Leading Achronim – First Edition. Mantua, 1624 *   Yemin Moshe, a kind of Kitzur Shulchan Aruch on the laws of shechitah and bedikah (ritual inspection), by Rabbi Moshe Ventura, one of the distinguished Torah scholars of Jerusalem and Turkey in the early seventeenth century. In this sefer, the author has compiled in one place the relevant sections of the Shulchan Aruch together with the glosses of the Rema, adding his own chiddushim and incorporating the rulings and teachings of the leading Sephardic poskim of the preceding generation, including the Maharshadam, Maharshach, and Mahari Ben Lev. In several places, he also references the rulings of prominent Ashkenazic rabbanim, among them the Ohr Zarua, Semak, Terumas HaDeshen, Rabbi Yaakov Weil, and the Maharshal (in his glosses on the laws of shechitah and bedikah). In several places he records the customs of his own community as well as those of Constantinople and Salonika. This is an important sefer for shochtim and bodkim and anyone engaged in the study of the laws of shechitah. The sefer was widely disseminated and gained broad acceptance throughout the Jewish world. The present volume is the first edition, which is very rare. Due to its widespread use, the sefer was reprinted numerous times with additions, including contributions by the scholar Rabbi Avraham Yisrael Ze’evi of Chevron. It was also copied extensively in manuscript form; nearly one hundred different manuscript copies are documented in the National Library of Israel! The volume was printed in pocket format so that it could be conveniently carried and studied at any time. The author, Rabbi Moshe ben Yosef Ventura of Tivoli , was born in Jerusalem and later settled in Silistria — later, it was the hometown of the Peleh Yoetz (today it is in Bulgaria, then it was part of the Ottoman Empire). There he served as a teacher and halachic authority, particularly in matters relating to shechitah. On leaf 15a he mentions his brother, who served as rosh yeshiva in Nikopol (a city where the Beis Yosef had resided in an earlier period). Mantua, 1624. Rare first edition . Printed during the author's lifetime. Page Count: 68 leaves. Size: 14.8 cm. Condition: Good. Minor restoration to the first leaves. Stains. New binding. Italian signatures of Rabbi Binyamin Galico, dated 1649.