Minchah Belulah [commentary to the Pentateuch].

RAPA, ABRAHAM MENACHEM HAKOHEN OF PORTO.

Francesco delle Donne

Verona

1594

First Edition. The initial word of each of the Five Books of Moses surrounded by a richly historiated vignette. Blank leaf signed by Clarence Isaac de Sola (leading Zionist in Montreal, 1858-1920) and also by Ya’acov Reifmann. A wide-margined copy.

Vinograd, Verona 3.

Whilst a young man, the author was apprenticed as a proofreader at the House of Bragadin in Venice. There he witnessed the violent burning of the Talmud pursuant to the Papal Bull of 1553. On f. 203r of the present work, Rapaport records the tragic event and notes his decision to commemorate the anniversary of the Auto-da-Fe as a personal fast-day for the rest of his life. See A. Yaari, Sereiphath HaTalmud BeItalia in: Mechkarei Sepher (1958) pp. 198-233. The author was the progenitor of the celebrated Rapaport dynasty of rabbinic scholars. The family coat-of-arms prominently placed on f. 207v includes a pair of Priestly hands raised in blessing and a black raven which refers to the Middle High German word "rappe" - raven, seemingly, the German family name. Indeed, the author refers to himself in his introduction as Benei Ha’Orvim - “of the children of the ravens.” See Heller, The Sixteenth Century Hebrew Book, pp. 828-9.