Autographic Manuscript - Whole Halachic and Aggadic Composition by an Unknown Author from Western Europe - ...

Autographic Manuscript - Whole Halachic and Aggadic Composition by an Unknown Author from Western Europe - Amsterdam, 1730s - Manuscript Passed Down in the Family of Rabbi Yisrael Lifshitz, Author of "Tiferet Yisrael"
Large manuscript, homilies and novellae in halacha and aggada. Amsterdam, [1730s].
Ashkenazic handwriting, characteristic to the early 18th century. Autographic writing of the author, with emendations, deletions and many additions in the margins and between the lines.
The heading on the first page reads: "Tuesday, 4th Tishrei 1732". The heading at the beginning of "Laws of Salting" (p. [119a]) reads: "Sunday, 15th Elul 1731, Amsterdam".
The manuscript is made up of Talmudic novellae regarding both halacha and aggada, in long essays. The essays include, inter alia: long novellae on topics in Tractates Brachot, Shabbat, Pesachim and Yoma, novellae on the Beit Yosef in the laws of Passover, novellae on the laws of nidda, elucidation of the Rambam's laws of Talmud Torah, novellae on the beginning of Tractate Bava Kamma, and others. From leaf 89 onwards, the manuscript contains novellae on the Tur and Shulchan Aruch, laws of treifot (kashrut of animals with physical defects) and melicha (ritual salting), including many explanatory illustrations in the laws of treifot.
The content has never been printed. We have not succeeded in identifying the author, who was evidently a prominent European rabbi. The aforementioned heading implies that the author resided in Amsterdam in 1731. It is known that this manuscript was passed down for many generations up until our days, in the family of the descendants of R. Yisrael Lifshitz, author of "Tiferet Yisrael" (1782-1860), and it is possible that the manuscript was authored by one of his ancestors or teachers. (The grandfather of the "Tiferet Yisrael" was R. Yisrael Lifshitz, rabbi of Kleve, author of "Ohr Yisrael". He is renowned for his involvement in the case of the "Get of Kleve" [Kleve divorce]. The father of R. Yisrael of Kleve was R. Eliezer, rabbi of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski and Neuwied, author of Responsa Heshiv Rabbi Eliezer and Siach HaSadeh [died 1750]. R. Eliezer's brother was R. Yehuda Lifshitz, rabbi in Rotterdam).
It seems that the author used the content of the manuscript in his public sermons, and it is possible that he was a rabbi or Torah disseminator, as a gloss on p. 53a reads: "...This is how I answered the Mechilta during my sermon, and what I wrote is the answer of the commentator to the Mechilta…". On p. 26b he discusses an interesting halachic question regarding a shofar made from an animal with one horn on its forehead.
[139] leaves (including 11 blank). 33 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains and wear, traces of dampstains. Fragile, brittle paper. Wear with loss and textual damage to the inner bottom margins of the pages. Partially detached gatherings. Original binding, damaged and loose.