Sepher ha-Roke’ach [ethics, rabbinic law and custom]

The first Hebrew Book to be printed with a title page. Gershom Soncino was perhaps the most prolific printer of his time, producing more than one hundred Hebrew titles and as many non-Hebrew texts (under the name Hieronymus Soncino). Regarding Soncino’s years on the Adriatic coast in Fano, see M. Marx, Gershom Soncino’s Wanderyears in Italy, in HUCA Vol. XI (1936) pp. 457-59. Renowned as a Tosafist, Eleazar of Worms was the last major figure of the Chassidei Aschkenaz Movement. He was an eclectic scholar with an oeuvre ranging from halacha, piyutim, exegesis, and Kabbalah. According to legend, by exercising the esoteric conjointment of the Hebrew alphabet, R. Eleazer was transported by cloud to Spain to acquaint Nachmanides with the mysteries of the Kabbalah. See I. Zinberg, A History of Jewish Literature, vol. III, p.24. The present work is entitled “Rokeach,”because its numerical value equals the value of the Author's name