(Ba”ch). Meishiv Nephesh [Commentary to the Book of Ruth]

SIRKES, JOEL.

Zevi ben Abraham Kalonymos Jaffe

Lublin

1617

FIRST EDITION. Title within typographical border. On title, owner's signature, “Nathan Nata, Frankfurt a/Main”

Vinograd, Lublin 111

R. Joel Sirkes (1561-1640) is most famous for his commentary to the Tur, Bayith Chadash (Ba”ch). In his introduction to this commentary to the Book of Ruth, the author notes the rabbinic opinion that the Book was edited by Samuel the Prophet. There are those that speculate the purpose of the Book was to demonstrate the ancestral legitimacy of King David, despite the fact that he was descended from a Moabitess. The Ba”ch questions here how it was logically possible to overturn the long-standing kabbalah (tradition), quoted by David's enemy Doeg the Edomite, that such an ancestry would render one illegitimate. As Rabbeinu Nissim points out in a responsum, tradition may not be rejected simply because it poses logical difficulties. The introduction ensues an interesting halachic discussion on the topic