(RaDa”K). Sepher HaShorashim.

KIMCHI, DAVID

Samuel Rikomen & Astruc de Toulon

Constantinople

1513

Complete variant edition with blank title-page (as noted by Yudlov in the Mehlman catalogue). Another variant is the size of the first word “Amar” on f. 1b - here, the same font size as the following words, in most other copies it is a larger size. Printed in three columns. Former owners` signatures and inscriptions on opening leaf, including Saul David…Segal Ish Mortara.

Vinograd, Const. 37; Mehlman 1253; St. Cat. Bodl. 4821, 45 (ed. rara).

The Provencal exegete and grammarian R. David Kimchi was a life-long anti-Christian polemicist. Most famous in this respect are his Teshuvoth LaNotzrim (Responses to Christians), culled from his commentary to Psalms. However, a trace of the anti-Christian polemic is also to be found in his Sepher HaShorashim. Under the entry “elem” (f. 87a, bottom of third column), quoting his father R. Joseph Kimchi, the author derides the Christian assertion that the word “almah” (a young girl) in Isaiah 7:14 refers to a virgin birth (parthenogenesis). Remarkably, the passage has survived intact in our copy. In other copies consulted, the offending lines were struck by the ever-watchful censor.