Pirkei Avoth [Ethics of the Fathers]. With commentary Lechem Yehudah by Judah ben Samuel Lerma, with text.

(MISHNAH)

Cornelio Adel-Kind for Tobias Foa

Sabbionetta

1554

Second edition of commentary. Title surrounded by intricate floral motif. The Adolph Lewisohn copy (with his morocco book-label). Introduction recounts the burning of the Talmud in Italy.

Vinograd, Sabbionetta 21; S.J. Weiss, Pirkei Avot, 14.

Of Spanish origin, Judah Lerma's commentary, philosophical in nature, draws upon the classic works of the Spanish Jewish philosophers: Maimonides, Albo, Arama and Abrabanel. Lerma originally printed this commentary in Venice in 1553. However by Papal decree, one Sabbath in the month of Mar-Cheshvan that same year, all copies of the Talmud, including Eyn Ya'akov, Alfas, and Mishnah, were publicly burned in Venice - and with them, all 1500 copies of Lerma's Avoth commentary. Undaunted, Lerma set out to reconstruct his work from memory. In time, he was able to obtain a single copy of his Lechem Yehudah plucked from the pyre by a Gentile. Upon comparison, Lerma regarded this, his second version, superior to the first.