Tuv Ta’am VaDa’ath [commentary to Yoreh De’ah]

KLUGER, SHLOMO

Poland

c. 1850

Manuscript in Hebrew, written in Aschkenazic cursive hands, on paper. Partially Autograph.

This manuscript served as the source for the first printing of Tuv Ta’am VaDa’ath. The author had a copyist collect all relevant material to Yoreh De’ah from his collection of manuscripts that were written between 1802-28. R. SHLOMO KLUGER ADDED HERE HIS NOTATIONS THROUGHOUT - between the lines. Furthermore, a complete autograph page of his appears toward the end, and the final paragraph of the volume is also in the author’s hand. The textual order of the manuscript is unlike that of the printed version, and throughout, such words appear as: Nidpas, Hu’atak, Hu’atak-ka’es (“printed, copied, copied now”), implying that this very manuscript served as the source for the printed edition. Hence we can assume that this manuscript was written c. 1850, i.e. prior to the first printed edition which appeared in 1852. Orphaned at an early age and raised by the Maggid of Dubno, R. Shlomo Kluger (1785-1869) was a pre-eminent halachic decisor and a most prolific author of responsa who served as the Chief Dayan of Brody (Galicia), as well as a preacher there for most of his life. His rulings were sought by all, and he remains a Halachic phenomenon until today.