[MORDECHAI BAER YENIKOW]. Sepher She’elah u-Derishah [extensive commentary on the Passover Hagadah]. In two parts. Penned by the scribe Jacob of Pupa, for R. Moses Ephraim

(HAGADAH)

n.p.

1823

Hebrew manuscript in neat Ashkenazic cursive script surrounding Hagadah text in large Ashkenazic square script. Hagadah text untill f.10, thereafter with blank space at centre. Brown ink on paper

Part I: She’elah: An aggadic commentary based on the questions and problems concerning the Haggadah and the Exodus from Egypt expounded by R. Eliezer Ashkenazi in his classic work Ma’asei Hashem. The author states that he has studied the Ma’asei Hashem in depth and in many cases had succeeded in explaining the questions raised in a different manner: “Perhaps my eyes have seen further than the Gaon R. Eliezer Ashkenazi, as a midget standing on the shoulders of a giant.” Part II: Derishah: Halachic pilpulistic commentary, in places covering other related topics. R. Mordechai Baer Yenikow was a disciple of R. Ezekiel Landau of Prague (The “Noda bi-Yehudah”). An approbation by Landau’s son, R. Samuel Landau of Prague extols, in the name of his father, the virtues of this work and its’ author. Composed in 1790, R. Mordechai explains in his introduction, that he wrote this commentary as “Mishlo’ach Manoth,” a Purim present for his father who supported him for six years, enabling him to continue his study of Torah. Thus the double commentary; a double gift according to the law of Mishlo’ach Manoth. The work was not written for publication, but rather was privately issued and intended for the enjoyment of family members. It was prepared as a gift of the scribe to the master R. Moses Ephraim, in gratitude for his having supported him so that he could devote himself to his Torah studies