Shailoth Uteshuvoth [responsa]

ALASHKAR, MOSES BEN ISAAC

Cornelio Adelkind for Tobias Foa

Sabbionetta

1554

FIRST EDITION. Wide margins. Title within ornamental border. Printer’s device on last leaf (Yaari no.20). Owners signature on title page. Signed by censors at end.

Vinograd, Sabbioneta 25; Habermann, Adelkind 118; not in Adams

A classical work of responsa on various interesting topics. (Case no.1): Whether a young woman who converted during the Inquisition is permitted to wed a Priest (Kohain) as she is deemed to have had improper sexual relations. Interestingly, the censor exhumed the word “shmad” and other terms referring to conversion. (Case no.81): During an argument one says “I am not a bastard” does this infer that his protagonist is a bastard. (Case no.101): Whether one may sell the merit gained from observing precepts, such as fasting Monday and Thursday. Appended are a number of interesting liturgical and penitential poems. The final prayer (p. 198b) refers to the Author’s expulsion from Spain and his travails in North Africa when he was saved from the “depths of the sea” and rescued from the “prisoners pit “ while in captivity.