Sepher HaRoke’ach [ethics, rabbinic law and custom]

ELAZAR BEN JUDAH OF WORMS.

(Gershom Soncino)

Fano

1505

FIRST EDITION. A WIDE-MARGINATED COPY.

Vinograd, Fano 12; Mehlman 954; Haberman, Soncino 19; not in Adams

The first Hebrew Book to be printed with a title page. Gershom Soncino was perhaps the most prolific printer of his time, producing more than one hundred Hebrew titles and as many non-Hebrew texts (under the name Hieronymus Soncino). Regarding his years on the Adriatic coast in Fano, see M. Marx, Gershom Soncino’s Wanderyears in Italy, in HUCA Vol. XI (1936) pp. 457-59. The Author was an eclectic scholar with an oeuvre ranging from halacha, piyutim, exegesis and Kabbalah, and was the last major figure of the Chassidei Aschkenaz Movement. The present work follows the tradition of many of the works of the Ba'alei-Tosafot of France and Germany, geared toward educating the scholar in the specific details of the halacha as well as recommended Minhagim and ritual. Although R. Eleazar does not write on Talmudic passages at length, he gives clear explanations of the Talmudic basis of many aspects of the halacha. Entitled “Rokeach,” - its numerical value equals the value of the Author's name, Elazar (=308)