Damesek Eliezer [commentary to Tractate Chulin]

The author was a descendant of the greatest Chasidei Ashkenaz of Worms. A contemporary of R. Joel Sirkes (author Bayith Chadash, or Ba”CH), with whom he studied in his youth, R. Eliezer was critical of Sirkes’ Halachic rulings (see ff. 88v.-89r.). Fearing lest future generations rely on his decisions due to his masterful commentary on the Arba’ah Turim, R. Eliezer felt justified in announcing the Ba”CH’s mistakes. Many copies of this work, which is one of the most thorough on Tractate Chulin, were destroyed in a conflagration that broke out in the printer’s shop. Most surviving copies were subsequently destroyed during the Chmielnicki Massacres of 1648-49. The dire condition of the Jews in Poland following the massacres prompted R. Eliezer to follow his father’s lead and migrate to the Land of Israel - despite his earlier opposition to the settlement of the Land, due to Halachic uncertainties relating to those precepts unique to Eretz Israel (see f.21r). Unfortunately, he never reached the Promised Land and died in Belgrade en route. For a lengthy exposition on the ancestry and importance of R. Eliezer and his place among the greatest scholars of his generation, see C. N. Dembitzer, Kelilath Yofi (1888-93), Vol. II, pp. 84-90. A complete copy of this work was sold by Kestenbaum & Company, Sale XI: Important Hebrew Printed Books & Manuscripts from the Library of the London Beth Din, 28th November, 2000, Lot 31