Midrash Raba with the Matnot Kehuna Commentary - Salonika, 1594-1595

Midrash Raba with the Matnot Kehuna Commentary - Salonika, 1594-1595
Midrash Raba, on the Five Books of the Torah and on the Five Megillot, with the glosses of R. Yehuda Gedalia, and the Matnot Kehuna commentary, by R. Yissachar Ber Berman Ashkenazi of Shebreshin (Szczebrzesyn). Salonika: Abraham Joseph Batsheva (Basevi), [1594-1595]. The first part of the Midrash, on Bereshit, was printed with the glosses of R. Yehuda Gedalia only. The printers obtained the Matnot Kehuna commentary by R. Yissachar Ber of Shebreshin (first printed in Krakow 1587-1588) only after the printing of that first part was completed, and they decided to print the subsequent parts with this commentary. Thus, from Shemot onwards, the Matnot Kehuna commentary appears in the margins (the glosses of R. Yehuda Gedalia also appear on Shemot, until Parashat Beshalach, and in several isolated instances thereafter). After the printing was completed, in 1595, they printed the Matnot Kehuna commentary to Bereshit, without the text of the Midrash, as an appendix. The printers wrote the following at the end of the Midrash on Bereshit: "Since our endeavors are for the sake of promoting and glorifying Torah and for the splendor of the book… and since we began printing with the glosses of the aforementioned scholar, and now G-d has presented us with the glosses of R. Yissachar Ber son of Naftali of Shebreshin HaKohen, named Matnot Kehuna, we agreed to print it as well, so that the building may rest on two pillars…". In this copy, the appendix containing the Matnot Kehuna commentary to Bereshit (printed in 1595), was bound at the beginning of the book (which was entirely printed 1594). Divisionary title pages for each part: commentary on Bereshit, Midrash on the Chumash and Midrash on the Five Megillot. 40 leaves (Matnot Kehuna commentary to Bereshit Raba); 271 leaves (Midrash Raba on the Five Books of the Torah); 135 leaves (Midrash on the Five Megillot). Lacking leaf 272 of the second pagination (last leaf of Midrash on the Torah), and leaf 136 of the third pagination (last leaf of Midrash on the Five Megillot). 28 cm. Varying condition, good-fair. Stains and wear. Tears to first title page and several other leaves. Worming to several leaves. Leaf 108 of the second pagination detached. Tears to upper and lower margins of leaf 151 of second pagination, affecting text, with paper repairs and handwritten replacement of text. Marginal paper repairs to several leaves. Binding detached and damaged.