Minchah Belulah [commentary on the Pentateuch]

RAPA, ABRAHAM MENACHEM BEN JACOB HAKOHEN OF PORTO.

Francesco delle Donne

Verona

1594

FIRST EDITION. Original printed title missing and replaced with an ornate title drawn by hand in black and red pen. On title, stamp of ”L.I. Manson” and “micnhath shai” (a gift). On 2r. owner’s inscription: “Solomon Rosale.” (Concerning the distinguished Rosales/Rosanes Family, see EJ, XIV, cols. 261-262.) The first word in each of the Five Books of Moses is surrounded by a rich vignette

Vinograd, Verona 3; Adams A-27

Whilst a young man, the author was apprenticed as a proof-reader at the House of Bragadin in Venice. There he witnessed the violent Burning of the Talmud pursuant to the Papal Bull of 1553. On f.203r of the present work, Rapaport records the tragic event and notes his decision to commemorate the anniversary of the Auto-da-Fe as a personal fast-day for the rest of his life. See A. Yaari, Sereiphath Hatalmud B’Italia in: Mechkarei Sepher (1958) pp. 198-233. The previous owner, Rabbi Levi Isaac Manson of Ozierna (1807-1917), was a grandson of the famed Rabbi Israel of Ruzhin, and author of a hasidic work Becha Yevorech Yisrael (Przemysl, 1908). R. Levi Isaac, as his more famous relative R. Nachum Dov of Sadigora, adopted the custom of printing the words “michath shai” (“a gift”) [from his admirers] on the title of various books in his collection.