(RYBa”SH). Teshuvoth Harav [responsa]

ISAAC B”R SHESHETH PERFET

Eliezer Soncino

Constantinople

1546

FIRST EDITION. Title within four-part ornamental border.

Vinograd, Const. 193; Yaari, Const. 145; Adams I-179

A PARTICULARLY FINE COPY. One of the leading scholars of his day, the Ryba”sh was a disciple of R. Nissim Gerondi and a colleague of Don Hasdai Crescas. He left his native Spain in 1391 when the great massacres broke out and settled in Algiers. His Teshuvoth Harav contains five hundred and eighteen responsa, dealing with all phases of the law. Unlike his predecessors, the Ryba”sh wrote his responsa at length, basing his decisions on specific documentation from the sources. The collection is particularly important for the social history of the Jews in 14th-century Spain and North Africa. The work was originally sold in single gatherings, it proved to be the last book printed by Soncino in Turkey.