Drashoth Al Ha’Torah [sermons to the Pentateuch].

SHUAIB, JOSHUA IBN

Bejar Del Castanile (Castile, Spain)

1477)

Manuscript on paper by Yom Tov Tzarfati. 204 leaves. Sephardic semi-cursive script. Important, extensive marginalia in various Sephardic hands.

AN IMPORTANT 15TH CENURY MANUSCRIPT OF A CLASSICAL HOMILETIC WORK. Ibn Shuaib lived in Spain in the first half of the 14th century. He was a disciple of Solomon ibn Adret, (RaSHB”a) and teacher of R. Menachem ibn Zerach, the author of Tzeidah La’derech. The many epigrams in this work give it a special charm. He urges for the return to observance of neglected precepts and the need for recourse to Jewish Courts of Law. The sermons of Ibn Shuaib are unique inasmuch as they are the only collection of sermons by a Rishon (medieval authority) that span the entire Pentateuch and cycle of the year. Hitherto, RABa”D and Nachmanides’ sermons were restricted to the single festival of Rosh Hashanah. Ibn Shuaib’s sermons exhibit an abiding interest in the Kabbalah and a fondness for Nachmanides, whom he often quotes. (Some go so far as to speculate that Meir ibn Sahula’s supercommentary to Nachmanides’ commentary on the Pentateuch was purloined from Ibn Shuaib.) The Derashoth of Ibn Shuaib are an invaluable source of midrashim that are not found anywhere else. EJ, Vol. VIII, cols. 1201-1202. In 1969, a photocopy edition of the Cracow 1575 edition was published in Jerusalem with a scholarly introduction by Prof. Shraga Abramson. The later Cracow edition is inferior due to printer’s oversights, it lacks text found in the editio princeps. In 1992, R. Ze’ev Metzger of Jerusalem published an annotated edition based on the Constantinople 1517 edition. In his introduction, Metzger shows several parallels between Ibn Shuaib and the works of R. Yom Tov ben Abraham (RITB”A) of Seville, another disciple of R. Solomon ibn Adret. Prof. Carmi Horowitz wrote his doctoral dissertation at Harvard University on the importance of this work for the understanding of rabbinic culture and Jewish society in 14th century Spain, in particular Navarre, where Ibn Shuaib resided. Horowitz discusses Ibn Shuaib’s views on Prayer, reasons for the commandments, the problem of evil, exile and redemption. (See C. Horowitz, The Jewish Sermon in 14th Century Spain: The Derashot of R. Joshua Ibn Shu’eib Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989). The lengthy marginalia cite other works pertaining to the topic discussed by the author. Especially important are quotations from the Zohar which indicate the author’s tendency towards kabbalistic interpretations. The importance and popularity of the work is attested by the many manuscripts extant. This manuscript which pre-dates the editio princeps by forty years, is invaluable for determination of a critical text which is still a desideratum. PROVENANCE: 1. F. T. Dent, London,. 2. Mossad Harav Kook, Jerusalem (ms. 39). 3. Sotheby's New York, Fine Books and Manuscripts, December 2004, Lot 17.