Sepher Agur [Halachic Code].

LANDAU, JACOB.

Azriel ben Joseph Aschkenazi Gunzenhauser

Naples

1490

Vinograd, Naples 15; Goff Heb-68; Offenberg 82; Steinschneider, p. 1225, no. 5564, 1; Thes. A67; Wineman Cat. 40.

FIRST EDITION OF THIS IMPORTANT SOURCE OF ASCHKENAZIC HALACHA. The work contains fourteen hundred and thirty nine sections, following the order of the Tur. It deals largely with ritual, the laws of Sabbath and the Festivals. The author’s purpose was to add to the decisions of the later German scholars, such as Jacob Moelin (Mahari”l) and Israel Isserlein, which were omitted by Jacob ben Asher in his Tur. As it was the final Halachic Code composed by a German rabbinic scholar before the advent of R. Joseph Karo, the Agur was heavily used by the latter in his Beth Joseph and Shulchan Aruch, cementing the legacy of the aforementioned Aschkenazic Halachists. The Agur is the first book to contain rabbinic haskamoth (approbations). It is graced with the encomia of Nathaniel ben Levi of Jerusalem and David ben Judah Messer Leon. The Agur is also the second Hebrew book printed in the lifetime of its author.