(RaLBa”G). Commentary on Book of Job

LEVI BEN GERSHOM (GERSONIDES)

Abraham ben Chaim of Pesaro

(Ferrara)

1477

FIRST EDITION. Wide-margined copy. Scattered marginalia that restore lines of text from an earlier manuscript

Vinograd, Ferrara 1; Goff 70; Goldstein 19; Offenberg 51; Steinschneider, p. 1613, no. 6138, 15; Thes. A12; Wineman Cat. 13. Not in Cambridge University or JNUL. HUC lacks ff.1-11 and 18

Many of Gersonides’ works offend modern sensibilities due to their their prolix philosophic style, which seemed out of place in a Bible commentary. However, in the Book of Job, this Aristotelian philosopher comes into his own. Job, the most philosophical of the Books of the Bible, devoted to theodicy and the problem of evil, actually lends itself to the rationalist investigation to which Gersonides subjects it. Gersonides’ method is to first define in a terse manner the difficult words of the text (the language of Job is notoriously complex), and then launch into a full-fledged discussion of the philosophical argument. See EJ, Vol. XI, cols. 92-98. The printer, Abraham ben Chaim of Pesaro, sometimes referred to in the literature as “the Dyer” (dei Tintori), was an Italian pioneer of Hebrew printing. Though it is conceivable Abraham was active in Hebrew typecasting and printing as early as 1473, his name as printer first appears in two books printed in Ferrara in 1477: Levi b. Gershom’s commentary to Job and Jacob b. Asher’s Tur (see previous Lot). See D. W. Amram, Makers of Hebrew Books in Italy (1963), p. 38; EJ, Vol. II, col. 143