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

ELEAZER BEN JUDAH OF WORMS.

(Gershom Soncino)

Fano

1505

FIRST EDITION. Previous owners’ inscriptions on title, scattered marginalia.

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 Soncino’s years on the Adriatic coast in Fano, see M. Marx, Gershom Soncino’s Wanderyears in Italy, in HUCA Vol. XI (1936) pp. 457-59. Renowned as a Tosafist, Eleazar of Worms was the last major figure of the Chassidei Aschkenaz Movement. He was an eclectic scholar with an oeuvre ranging from halacha, piyut, exegesis, and Kabbalah. According to legend, by exercising the esoteric conjointment of the Hebrew alphabet, R. Eleazer was transported by cloud to Spain to acquaint Nachmanides with the mysteries of the Kabbalah. See I. Zinberg, A History of Jewish Literature, vol. III, p.24. The present work is entitled “Rokeach,” because its numerical value equals that of the author’s name, Eleazar (=308). The work follows the tradition of many of the works of the Ba’alei-Tosafoth of France and Germany, geared toward educating the reader in the specific details of the halacha as well as recommended Minhagim and ritual. Although R. Eleazar does not explicate Talmudic passages at length, he provides clear commentary on the Talmudic basis of many aspects of the halacha.