Responsa of the Maharashdam – Salonika, 1594 – Gloss in the Handwriting of Rabbi Akiva Eger – Book Discarded by the ...

Responsa of the Maharashdam – Salonika, 1594 – Gloss in the Handwriting of Rabbi Akiva Eger – Book Discarded by the Communists from the Munkatch Synagogue
Responsa on Even HaEzer (of the Shulchan Aruch), by R. Shmuel de Medina (Maharashdam). Salonika: Avraham Yosef Basevi, [1594]. First edition.
Page 53b bears a long handwritten scholarly gloss, identified as that of R. Akiva Eger. The gloss deals with the topic of "safek sefeka".
The title page bears the signature of R. Akiva Eger's son-in-law, R. "Zeev Wolf Schiff of Wolsztyn" (who possessed an extensive library of books and manuscripts used on occasion by his father-in-law, see below).
The responsa of the Maharashdam were very favored by R. Akiva Eger, as evident from the many times they are cited in his works. To the best of our knowledge, this gloss was never printed.
R. Akiva (Güns) Eger (1761-1837) was the most prominent Torah scholar of his generation. In 1792, he was appointed rabbi of Märkisch Friedland (Mirosławiec) and established a yeshiva there. In 1815, he began serving as rabbi of Posen (Poznań), a position he held for over 20 years, until his passing. In Posen as well, he founded a yeshiva and taught many disciples. He was a holy person with Divine Inspiration. He replied to the thousands of questions addressed to him from around the world and recorded many novellae.
His son-in-law, whose signature appears on the title page of this book, was R. Zeev Wolf Schiff of Wolsztyn. See a responsum addressed to him in Responsa Rabbi Akiva Eger, Mahadura Kama, chapter 178 (see also chapter 160). After his wife Rodisch passed away in Breslau in 1849, R. Zeev Wolf moved to Königsberg. The author of Shoel UMeshiv recounts a visit to the house of R. Wolf in Königsberg in 1855, at which time he had the opportunity to view a manuscript of the Vilna Gaon's book Maase Torah which was in the possession of R. Wolf. (approbation to the book Maase Torah of the Vilna Gaon, Warsaw, 1864). He relates in the name of R. Wolf that he "could not fully comprehend [the Gaon of Vilna]… and he said that his father-in-law too, upon seeing the manuscript was amazed… " (see also Kedem catalog 62, item 241).
R. Akiva Eger devoted his entire life to Torah study and was known for his amazing proficiency and profound definitions which became basic tenets of Torah learning until our times. His books and novellae are key Torah texts for yeshiva students and poskim alike. R. Elazar Menachem Shach, author of Avi Ezri, writes in his approbation to the book Pote'ach She'arim – Teachings of R. Akiva Eger (Jerusalem, 1985) "For us, R. Akiva Eger, his opinions and reasoning are as conclusive as one of the Rishonim…". The glosses of R. Akiva Eger are valued in the yeshiva world and by Torah scholars for their perspicacity and profundity, and they invest much effort in studying them. He himself considered his glosses a composition worth publishing, as is apparent from his letters to his son R. Avraham Eger, printed at the beginning of Hagahot Rabbenu Akiva Eger, Berlin 1862. Especially renowned are his glosses to the Talmud, named Gilyon HaShas (first printed in his lifetime in the Prague and Vilna editions of the Talmud), his glosses to the Shulchan Aruch, and Tosefot R. Akiva Eger on the Mishna. Over the years, his glosses to various books were published in later editions of those books and in Torah anthologies.
Early signature at the top of the title page: "Koppel Segal[?]".
Ownership inscriptions of "Alexander Sender Zeltenreich" on the front endpaper. On the verso of the title page is a penciled inscription: "Belongs to the Rebbe… Moshe Weiss, his disciple Menachem Yaakov Zeltenreich[?]"(apparently, R. Moshe Weiss, Rabbi of Zborov – 1850-1916, see item 138).
Enclosed is a slip of paper with a handwritten testimony of the book’s discovery in a cowshed in the city of Munkatch (Mukacheve) among a pile of books discarded by the Communists: "I have found this important and rare book among thousands of books which were removed and thrown out from the Munkatch synagogue by the evil Red government and discarded into a cowshed in 1863/4 [seemingly, i.e: 1963/4], Yaakov son of R. Moshe HaCohen Kaplan" (his signature also appears at the top of the title page, with the year 1964). Several leaves at the end of the book are torn and missing, noticeably torn deliberately and crudely.
15, [1]; 1-162 leaves (originally: 15, [1]; 204 leaves). Lacking leaves 163-204, torn from the book (apparently deliberately, see above). 29.5 cm. Overall good condition. Stains, dampstains. Minor worming. Original binding (leather-covered wood), damaged and torn. Lacking one metal clasp.
Stefansky Classics, no. 291.