Masa Melech [on communal taxation and administration].

YOSEPH BEN YITZCHAK IBN EZRA.

Mattathias Bath-Sheva

Salonika

1601

First Edition. With important previous owner’s signatures and stamps: * R. Abraham Joseph Solomon Graziano (Ish Ge’r). * R. Nachum Dov-Baer Friedman of Sadigura. * R. Elazar Lipa Gartenhaus.

Vinograd, Salonika 161.

The author was a disciple of Shmuel de Medina (the MaHaRaSHDa’M). Masa Melech primarily deals with Siman 163 of the Tur’s Choshen Mishpat. At the time it was written, most Aschkenazic and Sephardic communities were afforded large degrees of autonomy by the civil authorities, thus necessitating clear Halachic definitions of what reasonable communal administration would look like. A special copy with aristocratic provenance.