Sha’arei Dura - Issue VeHeter [Rabbinic Code]. With commentaries including Mavo Shearim by Nathan ben Shimshon Shapiro.

ISAAC BEN MEIR OF DÜREN.

Kalonymus ben Mordechai Jaffe

Lublin

(1574-75)

FIRST EDITION of Mavo Shearim. Title within historiated border, printer`s device illustrating the Temple on f. 3b. Signature on title.

Vinograd, Lublin 32; for dating this work see Heller, The Sixteenth Century Hebrew Book, Vol. II, p. 635.

Exhibited by the Pierpont Morgan Library, see their catalogue: Hebraica from the Valmadonna Trust (1989) no. 44. R. Isaac of Duran (second half of the 13th century) was a preeminent German Halachic authority. His Sha’arei Dura is one of the most important Codes concerning dietary laws. It is based upon the traditions of both Germany and France and became the ultimate source for Halachah in this area, quoted at length by all subsequent codifiers. The extensive commentary Mavo Shearim includes the customs of Poland and Russia. For more details on the importance of this commentary, see the comprehensive monograph by R. Eliezer Katzman in Yeshurun, Vol. 13, pp. 617-700; and Vol. 14, pp. 935-964.