Mordechai ben Hillel Aschkenazi. Sepher Rav Mordechai.

<<WITH EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, EXTENSIVE MARGINAL NOTES WRITTEN IN A 16TH CENTURY ASHKENAZI HAND.>> The anonymous author of most of these manuscript comments was a direct disciple of the great R. Moshe Isserles (Rem”a, 1530-72). The notes contain extensive explanations and variant readings in the name of the writer’s teacher, alongside other lengthy notes citing other scholars. These notes were later incorporated and published in the Zhitomir (1858-64) and Vilna (1911-12) editions of the Talmud. According to the recent scholar of the Rem”a the late Rabbi Dr. Asher Siev (1913-2006), the Zhitomir editors used this very volume to incorporate these notes into their Talmud edition. However, Siev points out, they falsely attributed the notes to the Rem”a himself rather than to the Rem”a’s disciple. To present two examples: In a lengthy note in the present volume on f. 9b (Tractate Sabbath) the scholar cites “Mori…R. Moshe Isserles.” (This note is published on f. 71 of the Vilna Talmud edition). On f. 157a here, at the end of the Hagahoth Mordechai on Tractate Shabbath, he states “Ken nireh lemori R. Moshe Isserles s”n (sheyichyeh netzach).” (This note appears on f. 84 of the Vilna edition). The 16th-century writer of these marginal notes obviously had access to a number of manuscripts of the Mordechai, as he regularly refers to “mem-yud,” i.e. “Mordechai Yoshon”- an “Old Mordechai” (manuscript). Siev believes that the disciple writing these notes extensively utilized the writings and personal copy of the Mordechai of one of the most prominent disciples of the Rem”a, R. Tzvi Hirsch Schorr, the teacher of R. Joel Sirkes “the Bach” and son-in-law of R. Israel, son of the renowned R. Shachna of Lublin. Siev proves this assertion from the published responsa of the Rem”a (no. 105) addressed to R. Tzvi Hirsch which only contains a response but does not contain the text of his question (pertaining to a Get). However, our Mordechai (f. 116 a-b) contains lengthy marginal notes citing both the question and the response of the Rem”a (reproduced in the Vilna edition, as a note to the Mordechai Gittin no. 368). Thus clearly this writer had access to the writings of R. Tzvi Hirsch. The writer in this volume also frequently cites decisions, comments and corrections in the name of great scholars of his time such as R. Shlomo Luria (1510-73) whom he also refers to as “Mori” (see f. 91b). Additionally, he cites many lesser known scholars such as “HaGaon HaChasid R. Meir Virschler” (see f. 66a at top) and Chulin f. 138a, where he cites the Mordechai belonging to R. Hertz Trivash whom he calls R. Meir Virschler “Alufi” - my master). In summary, the manuscript reflects the efforts of a student of the Rem”a to collect from as many sources as possible scholarship that would allow for a revised Mordechai to be issued - this was not to be for more than 300 years until this volume reached the hands of the editors of the Zhitomir Talmud in the mid-19-century. However noticing the name “Moshe Isserles” in a number of places here the Zhitomir editors surmised that the Rem”a himself wrote the notes. In reality, the marginal notes are indeed largely, if not entirely, from the Rem”a, just not in his own hand, but that of a devoted student. See Asher Siev, Hagahot HaRema al HaMordecai in: Hagut Ivrit Be’America, Vol. I (1972) pp. 426-39; Avraham Halperin, Sepher HaMordecai BeRei Hadfasotav in: Iyunim BeSifrut Chazal…Melamed Festschrift, (1982) pp. 323-38. Provenance: The Late Rabbi Dr. Asher Siev, Rav Kook Prize Winner for: Rabbi Moses Isserles (Ramo). His Life, Work, and Ideas; His Colleagues, Pupils, and Descendants. With an Annotated Bibliography and Indexes (1972)