(Moses ben Gershon Gentili). Chanukath ha-Bayith [Treatise on the Construction of the Second Temple]

CHEFETZ, MOSES.

Bragadin

Venice

1696

FIRST EDITION. Title within woodcut decorative oval cartouche. Numerous engraved illustrations of the Temple. On title, signature of former owner, “Chaim Volterra”

Vinograd, Venice 1483; A.J. Karp, From the Ends of the Earth: Judaic Treasures from the Library of Congress (1991) p. 88 (illustrated)

Moses Chefetz, a native of Trieste, was a child prodigy. He developed into a fine Rabbinic decisor as well as a scholar familiar with the disciplines of mathematics and the sciences. His best-known work is his commentary to the Pentateuch, Melecheth Machsheveth (Venice, 1710). It contains a portrait of the author, clean-shaven and ministerial. Studies concerning the Temple in Jerusalem demand visual presentation, for the architecture and the Temple vessels are so very pertinent to the laws. The numerous engraved architectural illustrations in this volume were added after the printing. The copy of Chaim (Vita) ben Moses Volterra, who was active in the rabbinates of Venice and later Finale, Senigallia, and Ancona. Due to rancor with the Inquisitional authorities, he was forced to flee to London in 1714, where he took refuge for a spell. See EJ, Vol. XVI, col. 221