Auction 19
Lot 010:
A volume with the tractates: Chulin and Bechorot from the forged Jerusalem Talmud, with glosses of the Maharsham of Berezhany (!), a commentary and comments by Shlomo Buber and the commentary Cheshek Shlomo by the publisher – the forger "Shlomo Yehuda son of Maharam the sefardi, known as Friedlander". With approbations from the foremost rabbis who fell for the forger’s trick. The title page is red and black. A separate title page for tractate Bechorot. Published by S. Werhal, in the Weider Printing Press, 1907. | The news of the discovery of an ancient manuscript containing the lost order of Kodshim from the Jerusalem Talmud was greeted with great enthusiasm throughout the entire Jewish – religious world, even great Rabbis known for their well-developed sense of criticism such as the Chafetz Chaim, the Maharsham of Berezhany and many others, were deceived. This was for two reasons: one, due to the great longing for redemption – discovery of the order of Kodshim which deals with the laws of the Temple service was seen as a sign that the redemption is imminent and that the Jerusalem Talmud was sent from Heaven to enable them to make preparations for the building of the Temple. The second reason is the quality of the forgery. With great talent, the forger Friedlander copied and arranged all the sayings in the Jerusalem Talmud connected to the order of Kodshim, some of them are quoted in the books of the early sages, such of them from other orders of the Jerusalem Talmud and some of them he invented. However, it was not long until perceptive rabbis (the Rogatchover, the ‘Klei Chemda’ and others) revealed the forgery, and Friedlander was revealed as the culprit. To this day there are those who insist that the manuscript is authentic and not forged. The Tschebiner Gaon said that he knows Freidlander and that he was not talented enough to create such a large-scale forgery on his own. In any event, after the forgery was discovered most of the copies were destroyed. The remaining copies became collectors’ items. | High-quality paper. Original binding, embossed. Undeciphered ownership signature. | [9], 78, [1] 47 leaves. 35 cm. Overall condition: Good.
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