Arba’ah Turim [Code of Law]

This edition of the Arbah Turim is the only work in which Solomon Soncino, brother of the better known Gershom, is recorded as printer. Amram suggests, “It seems that although Joshua Solomon’s name appears in most of the books of the first five years of the press, the others were entitled to an equal share of the credit of their production, and it may be that the younger men after serving their apprenticeship, were rewarded with permission to attach their names to an occasional publication. Thus, while Gershom apears as the printer of the Book of Moses of Coucy, 1488 (see Lot 28), his brother Solomon, in 1490, appears as the printer of a new editon of that other great law book, the [present] Turim of Jacob ben Asher.” See The Makers of Hebrew Books in Italy (1963) p.78; Habermann, Perakim...Studies in the History of Hebrew Printers, p. 47 Jacob ben Asher, son of the great Asher ben Jechiel, perceived that as a result of increased controversy and faulty reasoning, opinions had multiplied in the field of Halachic ruling, so much so, that there were few areas free of discordance. Thus, he sought to compile a work that would embrace all the Halachoth and customs pertaining to both individual and community. The result, The Arbah Turim, quickly became an authoritative work of Jewish Law and initiated a new era in the realm of Halachic codification. Divided into four sections (“Turim,” or rows): I. Orach Chaim; on blessings, prayers, the Sabbath, festivals etc. II. Yoreh De’ah; on ritual law, Shechitah, usery, idolatry and mourning. III. Even Ha’Ezer; on laws affecting women. IV. Choshen Mishpat; on civil law and personal relations. “The legal compendia of Jacob b. Asher and Maimonides were the most popular post-talmudic and non-liturgical Hebrew books of the 15th century.” See B. Sabin Hill, National Library of Canada Catalogue, The Jacob M. Lowy Collection (1981) no.11. See also I. Sonne, Tiyulim BeHistoria U'Bibliographia in: Sepher Hayovel ... Alexander Marx (1950) p.222