(Gaon of Vilna). Shenoth Eliyahu [commentary on Mishnah, Order Zera'im]

ELIJAH BEN SOLOMON ZALMAN

Aaron Segal

Lemberg

1799

FIRST EDITION

Vinograd, Lemberg 171; Dienstag, Gr"a 59; Vinograd, Gr"a 177

Published by the Vilna Gaon's son-in-law, R. Moses ben Judah Leib of Pinsk - who included additional material of his own. In the Introduction, R. Moses tells that in his study house, R. Eliezer Sega"l Landau went over the original manuscript with his disciples, who found that some of the variant readings of the Vilna Gaon coincided with the opinions of the early greats. R. Moses also credits Yitzchak Frenkel of Lvov with creating the table of corrigenda (Lu'ach ha-Ta'uth) published at the conclusion of the volume. The book is adorned by the approbations of three rabbis of Lemberg: Tzvi Hirsch Rosanes; Yitzchak Aschkenazi, author Toharath ha-Kodesh on Tractates Menachoth and Zevachim (Lvov 1784, 1792); and Meshulam Hakohen. It also comes with a stern warning issued by the Beth Din of Vilna that none should accept as authentic writings of the Vilna Gaon unless they have been prior validated by the Beth Din. (It seems that immediately upon the Gaon's death in 1797, men of dubious character began to circulate questionable writings they ascribed to the Gaon)