Piskei Halachoth [Rabbinic law]

RECANATI, MENACHEM

The (Silk) Partners

Bologna

1538

First Edition. First word within floriated surround. Several offending passages on f. 22v. (regarding Gentile wine) struck by Church censor. Wide-margins

Vinograd, Bologna 12; Mehlman 787; not in Adams

The author was one of the foremost Italian Kabbalists and Halachic authorities of the 13th-century. For a full appreciation of his importance, see M. Idel, R. Menahem Recanati, Hamekubal (1998) pp. 79-80 quoting Prof. Y. Ta-Shema concerning otherwise unknown scholars cited by Recanti Later editions of the Piskei Halachoth have been heavily censored, indeed lacking entire chapters. See Y. Lipschitz, Piskei Hilchot Recanti in: Moriah,Vol. VIII nos.6-7 (1979) pp. 2-9, who compares all editions and notes that the most relied upon text is in fact based upon later incomplete editions and not on this first edition of 1538. The majority of the censored material pertains to Gentiles, or to Jews who have converted to Christianity