Ma’ayan Ganim

ARCHIVOLTI, SAMUEL D’

Alvise Bragadin

Venice

1553

FIRST EDITION. Three-crown printer’s device on title (Ya’ari no. 18). Woodcut vignette of a water-fountain repeated throughout text

Vinograd, Venice 456; not in Adams

Containing some 25 letters, including love letters, written in metrical form designed to serve as templates for students of this classic literary genre. Ma’ayan Ganim contains revolutionary ideas concerning women and Torah study. The author reasons that the prohibition of teaching Torah to women was directed toward a girl's father, however should a woman choose to take upon herself the study of Torah, then she should be encouraged to do so (see ff. 44-45). This opinion was cited by R. Baruch Epstein in his works Torah Temimah and Mekor Baruch. As for scholars unfamiliar with the original citation - no doubt due to the rarity of this work - see D. Rabinowitz, "Rayna Batya and Other Learned Women: A Re-evaluation of Rabbi... Epstein's Sources," in: Tradition, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Spring 2001), pp. 55-69 (esp. n. 51)