Mechilta with the "Ze Yenachamenu" Commentary - Amsterdam, 1712 - Hundreds of Glosses in the Handwriting of the ...

Mechilta with the "Ze Yenachamenu" Commentary - Amsterdam, 1712 - Hundreds of Glosses in the Handwriting of the Greatest Rabbis including Ha'Natziv of Volozhin
Ze Yenchamenu - Midrash Ha'Mechilta with commentary by Rabbi Moshe Frankfurt. Amsterdam, 1712. Proops Printing Press. First edition.
Before us is a copy of the Midrash Mechilta from which the Natziv of Volozhin, the son of Rabbi Chaim Berlin and other great rabbis had studied, with glosses in their handwriting.
Mechilta De'Rabbi Yishmael is a Midrash Halacha on the Book of Exodus, from Parashat Bo to Parashat Ve'Yakhel. In the edition before us, the "Ze Yanachamenu" commentary, written by Rabbi Moshe of Frankfurt, was printed for the first time. This is the first commentary on the Mechilta.
On the title page there is an unclear, ancient inscription: "M. Nachum … ben Chaim…"
Throughout the book there are hundreds of glosses, both between the lines and on the margins of the pages, in small handwriting. The glosses are referrals and references and important lingual and theoretical glosses. We have not succeeded in identifying the writer's identity. In any event, their content indicates that he was most knowledgeable genius. The style of the inscription indicates that his father too was a great rabbi. Some of the glosses were written in the tiniest script and it is most likely that they had been written by an additional rabbi.
The book eventually came into the hands of Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (the Natziv, 1817-1893), one of the greatest rabbis of his generation, the head of the Volozhin Yeshiva. His stamp appears on the title page of the book. The Natziv studied the book and wrote a theoretical gloss in it about Milah on Sabbath.
In 1970, an edition of the Mechilta was published in Jerusalem with the "Birkat Ha'Natziv" commentary, written by the Natziv as a youth. To the original composition, the editors added additional commentaries from the writings of the Natziv. The editors of the book innocently thought that "the Venice edition of the Mechilta was the one studied by Maran, and therefore, we have printed it in its present form even though it includes clear printing errors, since we do not want to correct the Venice edition …"
Before us is an important discovery! It is clear that the Natziv had used the book before us - the Amsterdam Edition - to which, as said, handwritten glosses had been added by an early rabbi, rather than the Venice edition.
On the comparisons of versions between the various manuscripts and editions of "Ze Yenachamenu", see the "Ha'Ma'ayan" Journal, Tishrei 2001, 41, the article of Efrayim Oren.
The Natziv liked to study the Torah from its most original sources. For example, he was not satisfied with the Rishonim but wanted to find the principles of their methods already in the Ge'onim. Therefore, he studied the initial sources of the Oral Torah including Midrashei Halacha - the Mechilta and the Sifri first and foremost. As a result of this study, he wrote his wonderful commentary on the Mechilta. Therefore, finding the copy of the Mechilta from which the Natziv had studied is of special importance.
When the Natziv died, his son, Rabbi Chaim Berlin, inherited the book. Rabbi Chaim was a rabbi in Moscow and later in Jerusalem. He also studied the book and added two theoretical glosses in his handwriting.
All the glosses in the book have never been printed.
[3] 64 pp.
Condition: Good. Small tears on the margins of several pages. The first pages are loose. The glosses do not damage the text. The last page is torn and partially missing. New cover.