Sepher Mitzvath Gadol [Sema”g: Great Book of Precepts]

COMPLETE TWO-VOLUME COPY OF THE EDITIO PRINCEPS OF SEPHER MITZVOTH GADOL. The fonts of this incunable are somewhat smaller in size than the other Roman incunabula, with a more advanced lay-out, together with a woodcut. Rabbi Moses of Coucy (13th century) here followed Maimonides’ general arrangement of the precepts, dividing the 613 commandments into 248 positive commandments and 365 negative commandments. The introduction to the second volume of the Sema"g, on negative commandments, is especially rich. In it, the author traces the origin and development of the Oral Law, from the tannaitic period of the Mishnah, to the amoraic period of the Talmud, followed by R. Yehudai Gaon’s Halachoth Gedoloth, R. Isaac Alfasi’s Halachoth and the crowning achievement of Maimonides - which brings him up to date. As magnificent as is the edifice of Maimonides’ Code, it leaves much to be desired. First, Maimonides provides no sources for his legal decisions, making his book “like a dream without interpretation.” Second, the great French authorities of the school of Rashi disagree with Maimonides’ understanding of the Halacha in many areas. This necessitated the drafting of a new compendium in consonance with the teachings of Rashi and his School. States Moses of Coucy: “At the beginning of the sixth millenium (1240 C.E.) there came to me in a dream: ‘Rise up, compose a Sepher Torah of two sections.’” This he interpreted as a charge to compose this Book of Commandments divided into positive and negative precepts. Subsequently, when R. Moses completed the work, he had a second dream in which there appeared to him the verse, “Be heedful lest you forget the Lord your God.” R. Moses interpreted this as a Divine instruction to include in the roster of negative commandments the prohibition against forgetting the Deity (a prohibition left unenumerated by his predecessor Maimonides)