An Unknown Autograph Letter by Nahman of Breslev

Credit Dr. Esther Leibes, the librarian of the Gershon Scholem Collection, whose sharp eye caught this treasure. In 2009, The European University in St. Petersberg, Russia published "the Jewish Nation- Pictures from An-sky's Ethnographic Expeditions" which he photographed over a hundred years ago. The last photograph is of a document, an autograph letter of R. Nahman of Breslev.

'Rabbeinu' signs it Nahman of Uman, from where it was, presumably, sent. The heading records the date, Rosh Hodesh Tammuz. If in Uman, this would be 1810, in R. Nahman's final year, only months before his death on the following 18 Tishrei. He writes to his beloved daughter Edel, requesting that she collect all the debts owed to him. In the postscript he asks to be updated on the news from his followers back home. Here's the transcript, by Eliezer Heshin, and his commentary.
It wasn't difficult to authenticate this document. It's visibly similar to the known autograph letters- one to his daughter Sarah, published in תמונות ומסמכים חסידיים Part IV vol. I, NY, 1989, and the other- ms Schocken 70148 (our microfilm film 46860) addressed to his brother Yehiel Zvi.
In the publication, there's not a clue as to where and when An-sky photographed this letter. If anyone knows about it, we would be glad to be informed.
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השלמת תלמוד בבלי סנהדרין מג

‏ פירוש ר' חננאל לסנהדרין מג, מכתב יד שבגניזה, כולל הקטע המצונזר

בדף היומי של שבת הגדול הבעל"ט (סנהדרין מג) סוגיא שלמה המתחילה במילים "בערב פסח תלוהו לישוע הנצרי", כידוע, הוחסר מהתלמוד המודפס על ידי המשגיחים של הכנסיה . אין צורך להדגיש את החשיבות של הנגשת הסוגיה המקורית לעשרות אלפי הלומדים את הגמרא כפי שיצא מפיהם הקדושים של האמוראים, ושלא יסתפקו ב"גירסא" שאושרה על ידי הכנסייה.

מקום הסוגיא שהושמטה בסוף עמוד א, סמוך לאחר "לפניו אין מעיקרא לא", שלאור הסוגיא השלמה, מתברר שהיא תחילת קושיא, ולא אימרה סתמית.

המקור הסמכותי ביותר של סוגיא החסרה הוא כתב יד התימני ביד הרב הרצוג, ירושלים. ניתן לראות את הדף ב"אוצר כתבי יד תלמודיים" שבאתר של הספרייה הלאומית. כמו כן הוא מופיע בכתב יד פירנצה, עם הערות נרחבות בלטינית בגליון. בכתב יד מינכן העיקר מחוק.

גם בפירוש ר' חננאל שבדפוס הושמט הפירוש לסוגיא מכתב היד, ובמקומו נמצא הודעה: בכתב יד נמחק כאן איזה שורות. ואכן בכתב יד רומא אנגליקה 83, ממנו העתיקו מדפיסי וילנה, נמחקו ארבע שורות בידי הצנזור, החתום בסוף כתב היד משנת 1611. אולם בעותק פירוש הר"ח מהגניזה שבאוסף קמברידג נמצא הפירוש בשלימותו.

תלמוד בבלי סנהדרין מג כתב יד תימן

צד א (הקלק שוב "הבא" בראש הדף) צד ב

הדף בכ"י פירנצה (מאותו אתר)

פירוש ר' חננאל (יצא לאור זה עתה, סיון תשע"ב)  בש"ס טלמן. עם השלמת פירוש ר"י מקטעי גניזה.

תודה למנהלי ספריית קמברידג', ובמיוחד לדר' בן אותוייט, ראש צוות הגניזה ולפרויקט פרידברג לחקר הגניזה

Cambridge University Library T-S F.4.10

צד א- שלשת השורות האחרונות

צד ב- שלשת השורות הראשונות

תעתיק של כ"י התימני, מנוקד ומפוסק כבמקור, עם רישום שינוייי נוסחאות מכ"י פירנצי, עם פירוש ר' חננאל

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Critical editions of the works Ma'aseh Rokeach and Sha'are Shchitah u-Trefot

Critical editions of the works Ma'aseh Rokeach and Sha'are Shchitah u-Trefot by R. Eleazar of Worms

Emese Kozma

The two works published here are critical editions of the compositions Ma'aseh Rokeach and "Sha'are Shehitah u-Terefot" by R. Eleazar ben Judah of Worms with two introductions and annotations in Hebrew.

The first composition of R. Eleazar, probably an earlier halakhic work, is to be found in the manuscript anthology called in the colophone: "Sinai" (Jewish Museum Berlin VII..5.26 folios 85d-123c). Another version of the work – which contains much less than the original composition - was printed in Sanik in 1912, based on the edition of R. Efraim Zalman Margaliot, who copied from a manuscript which was burnt in 1791. He entitled it "Ma'aseh Rokeach". The work in the Sinai manuscript is more complete than the printed "Ma'aseh Rokeah", and it has parallels also to the other halakhic works of R. Eleazar, the Sefer ha-Rokeah (first printed in Fano in 1505) and Derashah le-Pesah (edited by Simcha Emanuel and published in 2006). The Ma'aseh Rokeah in the "Sinai" MS has nine parts: Hilkhot Pesach, Hilkhot Hol ha-Mo'ed, Hilkhot Netilat Yadayim, Hilkhot Niddah, Piske Avodah Zarah we-Yayin Nesekh, `Issur va-Hetter, Hilkhot Tzitzit, Hilkhot Shabbat, Hilkhot Trefot. The composition of R. Eleazar in the Sinai MS contains long and short quotations from Halakhot Gedolot, Sefer ha-Ra'avan, Sefer ha-Ra'aviah, Sifre de-be-Rashi, Perush ha-Rashbam le-Avodah Zarah, Sefer ha-Yashar and others. It contains also quotations which parallel the Ma'aseh ha-Geonim and teachings in the name of Isaac ben Judah, the teacher of Rashi, to Hullin. In the rest of the work, which contains the parts written by R. Eleazar (or quoted by his student), there are many references to the teachings or halakhic decisions of his father, R. Judah ben Kalonymos ben Moshe of Mainz, and of other rabbis of the time, from Mainz, Worms and Speyer, as well as to the customs of the Jewish communities in these cities.

The Sinai MS was copied in 1391 by three scribes in gothic script which is difficult to read. The copyist of the part which contains the "Ma'aseh Rokeach" was not a talmid hakham and made numerous scribal errors. The content of the MS was first collected in the second half of the thirteenth century by Abraham ben Baruch, the brother of Maharam of Rothenburg, who gathered in this composition halakhic works of the ba'ale ha-Tosafot – among them the responsa of his brother. His called his anthology "Sinai" because the numerical value of the letters of the word "Sinai" is equal (in truth, less by one) to that of the word "'anavah" (humility, or modesty), a reference to the character of sages whose works are collected in it.

The edition here of Sha'are Shehitah u-Terefot is based on JTS MS Rab. 1923 , folios 46a-69b, which bears the title "Hilkhot Terefot u-Kesherot mi-Sefer ha-Rokeah" and was copied, with glosses completed by the scribe and talmid hakham, Yosef ben Natanel, the grandchild of the sage R. Yosef Kaltzon. This manuscript which is the only complete manuscript of the "Sha'are Terefot" by Eleazar of Worms, contains 25 sections (halakim) and 160 gates (she'arim), and is different from all other manuscripts, which contain only parts of the work, and also because of the additions of the scribe; indeed the version of the composition of R. Eleazar of Worms in this manuscript itself differs from other versions. In my annotations, reference is made to the rabbinical sources and variant readings from the eight other manuscripts which contain parts of the composition of R. Eleazar of Worms. In my introduction, the first part of the work is transcribed from Ms. Cambridge Add. 640 folios 1a-5b, the "Hilkhot Shehitah" from the "Sha'are Shehitah u-Terefot".

Only part of the composition , the "Lamed-waw (36) She'arim shel Terefot ha-Re`ah", was published from Ms. Oxford 696, folios 24b-37a in 1941 in New York by Zeev Bednovitz.

The two compositions, Ma'aseh Rokeah in the Sinai Ms and Sha'are Shehitah u-Terefot in MS JTS, Rab. 1923 were discovered and identified for the first time by Simcha Emanuel, who gave a description of the compositions and the manuscripts together with the other manuscripts which contain the work Sha'are Shehitah u-Terefot, and the early manuscripts which contain quotations of the work Ma'aseh Rokeach in his article published in Te'udah 16-17 (2001), pp. 203-254. My edition makes use of his description.

The edition is available in pdf format in the Giluy Milta site: http://sites.google.com/site/giluymilta/Home, or click here:

Maaseh Rokeach part I

Maaseh Rokeach part II (from Hilkhot Tzitzit onwards)

Shaare Trefot

Ms. Kozma is a doctoral candidate at the Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest and presently at the Dept. of Talmud, Hebrew University, Jerusalem. This gem is her first publication of Rabbinic literature. MS JTS, Rab. 1923 is published here courtesy of the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary.

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Shmuel Benveniste's Efforts on behalf of the Jewish Community of Girona, 1443

I'll admit, History is not my central field of activity. But, after initial consultation with Prof. Dov Septimus, I decided that this fragment could not be ignored. I will be glad to receive any additional information about this. In a CD of images of binding fragments received from the Arxiu Historic in Girona we find mostly drafts of the Bet Din (one item dated 1355), four bifolia including a Talmud fragment (Shabbat) on parchment in Ashkenazic hand, Rashi on Berakhot and an additional, unknown commentary on the same tractate, and a Yozer for Purim. The images here are all low-resolution jpegs that pixilated when enlarged, so it's sometime difficult to make a precise reading, particularly in the drafts and record books written in cursive Sephardic. My attention was drawn to a two-page item, apparently serving as the fly-pages of a volume labeled 2212.The online image has been published here. We see here a record of expenditures, loans and mortgages, in a layout that reminded us of the Aragonian community record Yah. Ms. Heb. 242 here in the NLI (published with color facsimile in Books from Sefarad, 1992 pp. 150-151). The main difference between them is that the Girona pages are in Hebrew, with only a few technical terms in Catalan. On one of the pages we find the heading:

אלו הן ההוצאות מזמן גיביתי (?) מתחיל א' ג'ניר תמ"ג עד א' ג'יניר תמ"ד לחשבונם"". A record of expenditures spanning, in the Christian dates- January 1, 1443-January 1, 1444. This in itself is an important finding, as this Jewish community was presumed to be long disbanded in the destruction of 1391 and the events in its aftermath.

The last published records of a functional community, in the stages of collapse in the years 1415-1418, can be found in Angeles Masia, A Portaciones al Estudio Dell Call Gerundense, Sefarad XIII, 1953, pp. 287-308; LB Prats, Mas Precisiones Sobre el Call Gerundense La Ordencion de 1418, Sefarad XXI 1961 pp. 48-57.

Many of the expenditures are loans to private citizens, payments to and the local "Musen". But many of the records deal with the efforts of Samuel Benvineste on behalf of the community. One record reads:

ראשונה להשיג חותם אדונותינו המלכה יר"ה, שימסרו\ לנו פישישאו מבית הכנסת הישנה וגם למיסיר ג'ופרי\ שיעיין חותם ביטול התקנות בעבור שיש בו קפיטול\ כי כל הבתי כנסיות שלא יעשו בהם תפלה שהיו מהקהל\ כמו נכסי הכלל הוצאתי ע"י אנבנבנשת שמואל בין \ פרוויאר הסופלוקיסיאו וסידור הכתב...

To my limited understanding it means thus: The first (payment?) to obtain the signature or seal of our lord the Queen (may God preserve her) that we be given the posesio (possession) of the Old Synagogue and to Mr. Geoffery that he may review the signature on the annulment of the edicts, as all the Synagogues that are (no longer) in use for prayer, that once belonged to the community [have become?] public domain. Expended by EnBenveniste Samuel between February(?) the suplecusio (supplication) was drawn up…

Four records later:

עוד לסדר הכתב בברצלונ"ה פבריר תמ"ג על ידי אנבנבנישת\ שמואל הנזכר לאציל"ס פראטש סופר הגזבר כללי\ הלך עמו פעמים רבות לגזבר כללי הנזכר שהיה להשיג ממנו אשיקוטוריאה בעד בית הכנסת וגם\ ללכת לאשישור מיסי"ר פא"ב

That would be: to the order of (expenses in) Barcelona February 1443, expended by Samuel Benveniste to Achilles Prats, the secretary of the General Treasurer, (with whom) he went many times to the abovementioned General Treasurer in order to obtain from him an esicutoria (executorial?) for the synagogue, and also to visit the asesior (assessor?) Mr. Pav.

If my understanding is correct, Samuel Benveniste is attempting to lobby the Queen (that would be Maria, queen of Alfonso V) to retain the communal property, particularly the synagogue estates that have become the property of the General Treasury, as most of them are no longer in use.

The author of the ethical treatise Orakh Yamim bears the name Shmuel b. Yaakov Benveniste. So too is the name of the translator of Maimonides' Medical treatise Miqalat Fi'Rabu (Sefer Hamisa'dim), although Steinschneider (Hebraische Ubersetzungen, p. 767) dates him around 1320.

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Leor Jacobi: Prayer of Nehunaya ben Haqanna without Psalm 55:24

The prayer of R. Nehunya ben HaQanna, recited upon entering the house of study as found in all versions of Bavli Brachoth 27b does not include the ending verse found in many prayerbooks and in the Hadaran recited at the conclusion of a Talmudic Tractate or Mishnaic Order: Psalms 55:24. שנאמר וְאַתָּה אֱלוהִים תּוֹרִדֵם לִבְאֵר שַׁחַת אַנְשֵׁי דָמִים וּמִרְמָה לֹא יֶחֱצוּ יְמֵיהֶם וַאֲנִי אֶבְטַח בָּךְ No medieval sources quote the verse in conjunction with the prayer. The inappropriate vitriolity of the verse in the context of this prayer has been pointed out by Torah giants such as Rav Kook (end of Ginzei Qedem, Vol. 1) and the Munkatch Rebbe (Divrei Torah, Mahadura 5, end of paragraph 60). The earliest known source for the inclusion of the verse is in printed versions of Hilchoth Alfasi (RIF). No manuscript versions contain the verse! However, one manuscript, Oxford Huntington 135 contains a reference to a different verse in a marginal note, the verse cited in the version of the prayer in Yershalmi Brachoth: Psalms 16:10 . It goes without saying that this verse is most appropriate in the context of the prayer. It seems likely that the printers of RIF, unfamiliar with the traditions of the Talmud Yerushalmi, substituted a more familiar verse, perhaps by habit ("ashagra D'Lishna") from Pirqei Avoth, chapter 5, describing Be'er Shahath, the destination of the students of the wicked Bila'am. Both locations share the common connecting words: שנאמר, באר שחת Thanks to Ezra Chwat, Moshe Bloi, and Shamma Friedman for their valuable assistance. gmb 015

The manuscript source of Tshuvot HaRaShbA vol. VI

It's not often that we can trace a printed work of the Rishonim to its manuscript source. Here's one such case.

Tshuvot HaRaShbA vol. VI was published in Warsaw 1898 (not 1868 as in the imprint- RSZ Havlin, introduction to Tshuvot HaRaShbA, 2000 p. 25), long after the publications of the previous volumes. Consequently, much of the material in this volume is parallel to responsa that had already been published. The publishers had the integrity to retain the order of the manuscript, and merely cited the parallel source where previously published responsa appear, alongside the respective number of the response in the manuscript.

With these features, it would be expected that we could easily identify the manuscript source, once it came up.

Hannan Benayhu, who now manages the manuscript collection of his father R. Meir Benayhu z"l, graciously allowed us to photograph two of the most important items of this collection, that we have had no image or record of until now- the Talmud Yerushalmi fragment from Sanhedrin VI-VII (shelfmark Sp 12), and the 167 page manuscript of Tshuvot HaraShbA (O 204).

The latter is clearly the source of vol. VI, bearing the following features of identification:

The marginalia on the first and last pages of the manuscript, comments by, respectively, David Pifano and Binyamin Qimhi, were retained in the published edition.

Responsa that were omitted in the edition appear in the manuscript here with scratchmarks, presumably an indication to the printer where to omit. In the margins of these responsa, are pencil-written references citing where the specific response has been published.

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Tish'a B'Av 'Amidah supplement

Prof. Andreas Lehnardt of Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz has been very active in recent years in finding new Hebrew Manuscripts in bindings throughout Central Europe. The last harvest, from the Stadtische Sammlung of Halberstdt, of which he published a survey in Gemeinnützige Blätter 17, (2008) pp. 58-64, and subsequently sent us the images. (National Library Aleph record no. 2638598) Among the findings here are 16 folios of Kinnot for Ninth of Av, including the Torah portion, Haftarah, and one folio from the 'Amidah including supplementary paragraphs. What's peculiar here is, in addition to the common Nahem supplement to the 14th brakhah, a remnant from the end of an additional supplement to the 13th brakhah- citing Zechariah I:14. GMB 013