Minchah Belulah [commentary on the Pentateuch]
AUCTION 21 |
Thursday, December 04th,
2003 at 1:00
Kestenbaum & Company Holds Inaugural Auction of Hebrew Printed Books & Manuscripts at Their New Galleries
Lot 209
RAPA, ABRAHAM MENACHEM BEN JACOB HAKOHEN OF PORTO.
Minchah Belulah [commentary on the Pentateuch]
Verona: Francesco delle Donne 1594
Est: $400 - $600
PRICE REALIZED $1,300
Whilst a young man, the author was apprenticed as a proof-reader at the House of Bragadin in Venice. There he witnessed the violent Burning of the Talmud pursuant to the Papal Bull of 1553. On f.203r of the present work, Rapaport records the tragic event and notes his decision to commemorate the anniversary of the Auto-da-Fe as a personal fast-day for the rest of his life. See A. Yaari, Sereiphath Hatalmud B’Italia in: Mechkarei Sepher (1958) pp. 198-233.
The previous owner, Rabbi Levi Isaac Manson of Ozierna (1807-1917), was a grandson of the famed Rabbi Israel of Ruzhin, and author of a hasidic work Becha Yevorech Yisrael (Przemysl, 1908). R. Levi Isaac, as his more famous relative R. Nachum Dov of Sadigora, adopted the custom of printing the words “michath shai” (“a gift”) [from his admirers] on the title of various books in his collection.