Auction 74
Lot 158:
Zera Baireich Shlishi, a commentary on the Torah by Rabbi Berachya Beirach. [1717]. The end of the book was never printed; only the section on Genesis was printed and then the author was imprisoned because he wasn’t authorized to live in the city, “and he barely escaped with his life”. First edition. [1], 37 leaves. Page numbering is messed up in the original and this copy is missing one leaf and the last leaf. Important approbations from Rabbi Avraham Oppenheim, Rabbi Wolf Sirkesh, and more. Stains, dark paper, repaired title page, moth damage in a number of places, new binding, overall fair condition.
The title page has an important stamp: “Neum HaKatan Yaakov Shemesh…”. The last leaf has an additional stamp: “Avraham Azriel.”
This copy bears the signature of Rabbi Yaakov Shemesh, a prominent Frankfurt rabbi. He was a rebbe of the Chatam Sofer, who called him ‘Mori V’Rabbi’. He served as Rabbi of the Klois and Rosh Yeshiva in Frankfurt between 1765 and his death in 1785. He also served for a number of years as the Rosh Beit Din in Frankfurt. His term overlaps with Rabbi Pinchas HaLevi Horwitz, the Ba’al Hafla’a, who was the Chief Rabbi; in 1775 (approx.) Rabbi Shemesh was offered the position of Rabbi of Wurzberg, but he refused and remained in Frankfurt. In the community’s Yizkor book, it is written that he “learned and taught tons of shiurim and students in the Babylonian and Yerushalmi Talmud, Safra and Sifrei and Kula Talmuda…”. He was eulogized by two gedolim of that generation.
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