(Ra’N). Shailoth U’Teshuvoth [responsa].

GERONDI, NISSIM

Yitzchak Deltash, Antonio Baldo & Samuel Sarfati

Rome

1545

Vinograd, Rome 18.

Only seventy-seven responsa from this great commentator on Alfasi’s code are extant, and, similar to most compedia of responsa, they reflect the Jewish life of the period, especially the economic difficulties of the Jewish Community of Barcelona during the second half of the 14th-century. Unlike Venice, only occasional and short-lived Hebrew printing presses arose in Rome. Sporadic bursts of such activity were quickly marred by assaults of ecclesiastical intolerance. The Eternal City of Rome produced just eighteen Hebrew books throughout all of the 16th-century. Antonio Baldo was granted leave to print Hebrew books in Rome by the Papal Vicar in 1546 and the present Responsa of R. Nissim Gerondi was his first endeavor. His Jewish partner, Solomon ben Isaac of Lisbon, assisted by Samuel Zarfati, did the work of editing, proofing and marketing the books. The press issued just five books in the two years it was operative. For a chronicle of Hebrew printing in Rome see D. Amram, The Makers of Hebrew Books in Italy (1909) pp. 235-51.