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Mishneh Torah hu ha-Yad ha-Hazakah COMPLETE FOUR-VOLUME SET OF MAIMONIDES' MISHNEH TORAH

1739 · rif. 27896 — Jessnitz Saxony-Anhalt: Bi-defus Yisrael bar Avraham 1739. Hardcover. Good. Four volumes folio published between 1739 and 1742. Woodcut printer's device at titles; woodcut endpieces in first volume. Hebrew text opens from right to left; leaf numbers in Hebrew characters. Hebrew chronograms yield Jewish dates of publication 5499-5502. Brown library buckram scuffed at extremities spines lettered in gilt. Endleaves renewed. A good set. See foliation and condition notes for each volume below. Scarce eighteenth-century edition of this seminal compendium of Jewish law halakhah. Compiled between 1170 and 1180 while Maimonides was living in Egypt the Mishneh Torah is regarded as the author's magnum opus. It is the only Medieval-era work that surveys the full panoply of Jewish observance including those laws that are only applicable when the Jerusalem Temple is in existence. The present edition is the first to contain Judah Rosanes' commentary Mishneh le-melekh. "Mishneh Torah" The Repetition of the Law is an appellation originally applied to the biblical book of Deuteronomy; the subtitle "ha-Yad ha-Hazakah" The Book of the Strong Hand plays on its subdivision into fourteen books: the numerical value fourteen is represented in Hebrew letters as Yud 10 Dalet 4 which forms the word "yad" hand. Maimonides sought to provide a complete statement of the Oral Law so that a person who mastered first the Written Torah and then the Mishneh Torah would be in no need of any other book. Contemporary reaction was mixed with strong and immediate opposition focusing on the absence of sources and the belief that the work appeared to be intended to supersede study of the Talmud itself. Maimonides responded to these criticisms and the Mishneh Torah endures as an influential work in Jewish religious thought. According to several authorities a decision may not be rendered in opposition to a view of Maimonides even where he apparently militated against the sense of a Talmudic passage for in such cases the presumption was that the words of the Talmud were incorrectly interpreted. Likewise: One must follow Maimonides even when the latter opposed his teachers since he surely knew their views and if he decided against them he must have disapproved their interpretation. Vol. 1: 1 title 8 234 102 3 ff. Repairs at title page with very slight loss of text at verso following leaf and the final leaf. Text embrowned often heavily in first half with some light marginal dampstains throughout. Old manuscript entries in Hebrew at title in at least three hands. Vol. 2: 1 title 148 112 2 ff. Marginal repairs to first and last two leaves no loss of text. Moderately dampstained throughout with some mild embrowning. Old manuscript entries in Hebrew at title in at least two hands; three old stamps at title including at least one censor's approbation. Vol. 3: 1 title 221 169 ff. Repairs at bottom margin to title with loss of some text below imprint and at final lines of rabbinic approbations at verso and at bottom margin following leaf with some text loss and obscuration by translucent paper tape. Small marginal repair at final leaf. Light dampstaining in first half; remaining text with mild embrowning. Old manuscript entries in Hebrew at title in at least two hands; two old stamps at title including at least one censor's approbation. Vol. 4: 1 title 135 138-154 157 1 ff. Marginal repairs to title and final leaf no loss of text. Sporadic light embrowning and marginal stains. Old manuscript entry in Hebrew at title. A complete set with only minimal text loss in a few places -- a very usable scholar's copy. References: Vinograd Jessnitz 46; Fürst 2: p. 295; Zenker p. 583 Title in Hebrew: משנה תורה ×”×•× היד החזקה להנשר הגדול ×”×’×ון רבינו משה בר מימון זצ׳׳ל ×¢× השגת הר×ב׳׳ד זצ׳׳ל ופירוש הרב מגיד משנה וכסף משנה להג×ון המשביר רבינו יוסף ק×רו זצ׳׳ל ומגדל עוז והגהות מימונייות ופירוש רבינו עובדי והרב המוסמך מדר׳׳ל ן׳ חביב על הלכות קידוש החדש ×¢× כל הצורות השייכות להלכות ×לו ולהלכות שבת וסוכה ×•×¢× מורה ×ž×§×•× על דברי הרב המגיד וכסף משנה ×’× שתי מפתחות גדולות ורחבות ×חת על סדר ×”×¤×¨×§×™× ×•×חת על דרך ××œ×¤× ביתה ×œ× חסר דבר מכל כפי ×שר נדפס ב××ž×©×˜×¨×“× Rabbi Moses Maimonides the Rambam was a 12th century Jewish philosopher and halachic legal scholar. A highly controversial figure both during his lifetime and after his death he is generally acknowledged as the preeminent Jewish thinker of the Middle Ages. He was born in Córdoba Spain but fled as a child from the Almohad persecution. He eventually settled in Egypt where he served as a rabbi physician and philosopher. His fourteen-volume Mishneh Torah his only work not in Arabic still carries canonical authority particularly within the Yemenite Jewish community as the codification of Talmudic law. His other works include "Kitab al-Siraj" a commentary on the Mishnah "Kitab al-Fara'I" a book on precepts and the celebrated philosophical work "Dalalat al-Ha'irin" known in Hebrew as the "Moreh Nevukhim" The Guide to the Perplexed. In this latter work Maimonides attempted a philosophical/theological reconciliation of the Hebrew Bible and Greek knowledge. This work came to play a central role in all subsequent major controversies over philosophy within the Jewish community during the Middle Ages. Bi-defus Yisrael bar Avraham hardcover