(MaHaRaSHDa”M ). Shailoth Uteshuvoth [responsa]

MEDINA, SAMUEL DE

Abraham Joseph Bat-Scheba

Salonika

1594-1595

Two volumes (only). Title page within decorative woodcut architectural borders incorporating printer’s device (cf. Yaari no. 48). Previous owner’s marks, scattered marginalia in a Sephardic cursive hand

Vinograd, Salonika 131 and 139; Mehlman, Genuzot Sefarim, no. 50 and 52

Samuel de Medina was one of the outstanding Halachic decisors of the 16th century. The Yeshiva he founded in Salonika (which was supported by the noble Donna Gracia Mendes-Nasi) nurtured the development of scholars from throughout the Ottoman Empire. For a detailed study of this work and biography of the author see: L. Bornstein, Maphteach Le’ Shut R. Shmuel de Medina (1979). For a survey comparing the various editions of this work, see Y. S. Spiegel, Al Shtei Hamahadurot shel Teshuvot R. Shmuel de Medina in: Atarah Le-Chaim (Dimitrovsky Festschrift, 1999) pp.501-533; see also M.S. Goodblatt, Jewish Life in Turkey in the XVIth Century, as Reflected in the Legal Writings of Samuel de Medina (1952)