Complete in 15 volumes

(TALMUD, BABYLONIAN)

Michael Gottschalk

Frankfurt on the Oder

1697-1699

Many volumes include an additional engraved title depicting Moses and Aaron, David and Solomon; in center, cartouche reminds reader that publication of this magnificent Talmud was funded by the Court Jew, Behrmann Sega”l ben R. Judah Lima (see below); at top, sheep resting hooves on laver, coat-of-arms of Behrmann Sega”l. (The sheep, or Aries, was the astrological sign or “mazal” of Lehmann; the laver symbolized his Levitic descent). Signed by M[artin] Bernigeroth (engraver to the prince-elector of Saxony). On additional title of Tractate Bava Kama, former owner's inscription: “This Gemara belongs to the expert in Torah, the noble officer, R. Simon Segal of Hanover.”] On main title, printer's mark of Michael Gottschalk, a mirror-image monogram “MG” (see Yaari, Hebrew Printers' Marks, p. 50, no. 79)

Vinograd, Frankfurt on the Oder 85-106, 111-128, 130; See Yeshiva University Museum Catalogue, Printing the Talmud (2005) number 40; Jewish Museum Catalogue, From Court Jews to the Rothschilds 1600-1800 (1996) number 185

The First Complete Set of the Talmud Printed in Germany. Published by Behrend Lehmann. The wealth and religious devotion of Behrend Lehmann (1661-1730) are legendary. Court Jew and financier of Augustus II of Saxony, Lehmann lived a life of opulence that nonetheless reflected his religious observance. It is told he traveled with a retinue of thirty persons, including a rabbi and a ritual slaughterer. His two abiding monuments, Jewishly speaking, were the famed Klaus (or Studyhouse) of Halberstadt - first established in 1707 - which he endowed, and in which were ensconced some of Europe's finest rabbinic scholars; and the magnificent edition of the present Talmud - the first in Germany - upon which he spared no expense. By a conservative estimate, the entire production cost Lehmann fifty thousand thalers, an astronomical sum at the time. Lehmannn set up in Frankfurt an expert team of scholars to oversee the production of this Talmud. Thus, at the beginning of Tractate Zevachim we have a list of the “Magihim” or Proof-readers: “Samuel ben Alexander of Halberstadt, Jochanan ben Meir Kremnitzer of Kalisz; Joshua Falk of Lissa; Elimelech Plaut of Mezritch; Abraham ben Judah, Dayan of Krotoschin; and Benjamin Ze'ev Aschkenazi of Frankfurt-on-Oder.” Behrend Lehmann's personal involvement in the printing process is attested to by the travel notes of a contemporary Swedish visitor, Olaf Celsius: “On August 4th, I arrived in the evening in Frankfurt-am-Oder…There the Jews own a large printing plant. Berndt Lima (sic.), a Jew from Halberstadt, was there in order to arrange the printing of the Talmud. I saw seven printers working on Tractate Nazir, which they typset page by page, based on the Basel edition.” (M. R. Lehmann, p. 205). The Frankfurt-am-Oder edition of the Talmud is the first edition to bear haskamoth or rabbinic endorsements to prevent infringement. This was a significant innovation, some of the bitterest controversies in Jewish history revolved around the rights and privileges of printing the Talmud. At the beginning of the first volume, Tractate Berachoth, are the haskamoth of R. David Oppenheim of Nikolsburg (later famed rabbi of Prague); R. Naphtali Katz of Posen (renowned as the honorary “Nasi” or “President” of Eretz Israel); Joseph Samuel, rabbi of Frankfurt-am-Main; Moses Judah Hakohen, Aschkenazic chief rabbi of Amsterdam; and finally, Jacob Sasportas, Sephardic chief rabbi of Amsterdam (resolute opponent of Sabbatianism ). All greatly praise the Maecenas, R. Issachar Bermann Segal of Halberstadt for underwriting this monumental undertaking. See Manfred R. Lehmann, “Behrend Lehmann: The King of the Court Jews,” in Leo Jung (Ed.), Sages and Saints (1987) pp. 197-217; EJ, Vol. VII, col. 1173; Vol. X, cols. 1579-1580