Toldoth Adam VeChavah. Sepher Meisharim [Rabbinic code].

YERUCHAM BEN MESHULAM OF PROVENCE.

n.p.

Constantinople

1516

FIRST EDITION. Two parts bound in one volume. Title within ornate woodcut; both title and colophon with printer’s mark of Judah Sasson, a lion facing left, with one paw uplifted (see Yaari, Hebrew Printers’ Marks 8). A Wide-Margined Copy. Marginalia.

Vinograd, Const. 83.

AN IMPORTANT EARLY LEGAL CODEX, GREATLY RELIED UPON BY THE BETH YOSEPH. One of the last sages of Provence, Rabbeinu Yerucham (c. 1290-1350) was exiled from France due to the Expulsion of 1306. He eventually settled in Toledo, where he studied under R. Asher ben Yechiel (RO”Sh). In his Code, Rabbeinu Yerucham quotes the opinions of French, Provencal and Spanish authorities, recording the customs of those communities for posterity. The first part of this work, entitled Adam VeChavah, focuses upon life-cycles and ritual law; the second part, entitled Meisharim, deals with civil law. Toldoth Adam VeChavah is itself subdivided: ‘Toldoth Adam’ relates the laws that apply from the time of one’s birth until marriage, while ‘Chavah’ details the laws that apply from the onset of married life until death. The legal decisions of Rabbeinu Yerucham continue to play a major part in the development of Halachah.