Peri Eshel [novellae to Talmudic Tractate Berachoth]

An important Halachic work, apparently never published. Other works by the Author include: Eshel Avraham (Livorno, 1819); Mikra'ei Kodesh (Ortakoy,1829); Hagadah with commentary(Livorno, 1819). It is difficult to come by biographical information concerning the author although it would appear he was a scion of the distinguished Chajes family of Prague. Thus, on f. 65b the Author writes: "I heard it asked in the name of the Ge'onim of the community of Prague, of blessed memory." The progenitor of the Chajes family, which originated in Provence, was R. Isaac Chajes (1538-c.1615), Rabbi of Prague and author of the supremely important halachic work "P'nei Yitzchak" or "Apei Ravrevei ". Another scion of this family was the famed Talmudist R. Tzvi Hirsch Chajes (Mahara"tz Chajes) (1805-1855) of Zolkiew, Galicia. One notes that R. Tzvi Hirsch's father Meir was a banker who resided for fifteen years in Florence before relocating to Galicia. Concerning the Chajes Family of Prague, see M. Herskovitz, Mahara"tz Chajes (1972) pp. 38-52; JE, Vol. VI, p. 279; EJ, Vol. V, col. 327