Hebrew. PENTATEUCH, HAPHTAROTH AND FIVE SCROLLS). Chamishah Chumshei Torah

(BIBLE

Anton Schmid

Vienna

[1800]

Five parts in one volume with five title pages

Vinograd, Vienna 157

Rare Court-Room Hebrew Bible. Official manuscript document with seals dated Prague, 17th March, 1808 pasted in at front, signed by the esteemed Rabbi of Prague, Eliezer Fleckeles and other officials, noting this Bible to be used in Courts of Law to administer the Oath to Jewish witnesses and indicating which page is to be opened when administering the oath (p.38 of Leviticus-ch. 26, verse 1). The pages of Leviticus are hand numbered up to p. 38. With a separate document written on the same date, signed by Carl Fischer, the appointed Censor of Hebrew Books in the city of Prague. Fischer was on friendly terms with Fleckeles, indeed, the use of the Hebrew Bible within the secular court system would appear to be a direct result of inquiries made by Fischer to Fleckeles regarding the validity of a Jew’s oath to a gentile. This communication appears in “Teshuvah Me’ahavah” Part I (1809), Fleckeles’ noteworthy volume of responsa, number 26 An intersting relic of the realtionship between Jews and the secular court-system