Be'urim and Pesakim 'u-Khetavim, Two works by Israel ben Petahiah Isserlein, Venice: Daniel Bomberg, 1519

Be'urim: 17 leaves (8¾ x 6½ in.; 222 x 165 mm). Mostly marginal dampstains and soiling, a few marginal mends near the end; verso of  final leaf with two owners' inscriptions, one in Hebrew and one in Italian as well as the signatures of three censors (Domenico Irosolomitano, 1597; Luigi da Bologna, date cropped; Domenico Carretto, 1618.) Eighteenth-century sheep, blind-tooled in a panel design with floral stamps in the panels and roll-tools in the frames; edges and backstrip rubbed, scuffmarks.



Pesakim 'u-Khetavim: 53 leaves (9 1/8 x 6 3/8 in.; 232 x 162 mm). Final blank replaced, title strengthened on a stub, some mostly marginal damp-stains and spots, a few worm holes in lower margin of last few quires. Dark green cloth.

Be'urim: Vinograd, Venice 9, mistakenly records 34 leaves; Habermann 14, correctly records 17 leaves; Steinschneider 5159,1 records 18 (presumably a blank eighteenth leaf). Pesakim 'u-Khetavim: Vinograd , Venice 12; Habermann 13

Be'urim: 17 leaves (8¾ x 6½ in.; 222 x 165 mm). Mostly marginal dampstains and soiling, a few marginal mends near the end; verso of final leaf with two owners' inscriptions, one in Hebrew and one in Italian as well as the signatures of three censors (Domenico Irosolomitano, 1597; Luigi da Bologna, date cropped; Domenico Carretto, 1618.) Eighteenth-century sheep, blind-tooled in a panel design with floral stamps in the panels and roll-tools in the frames; edges and backstrip rubbed, scuffmarks. Pesakim u'Khetavim: 53 leaves (9 1/8 x 6 3/8 in.; 232 x 162 mm). Final blank replaced, title strengthened on a stub, some mostly marginal damp-stains and spots, a few worm holes in lower margin of last few quires. Dark green cloth.
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Israel ben Petahiah Isserlein (1390–1460), the foremost German rabbi of the fifteenth century is often referred to by the names Israel Marburg or Israel Neustadt after two of the towns in which he resided. Renowned for his piety and ascetic lifestyle, he may be regarded as continuing the tradition of the Hasidei Ashkenaz of the thirteenth century. Notwithstanding the present lot, Isserlein is best known for his chief work, Terumat ha-Deshen.

Many fifteenth and sixteenth century sages wrote explications to Rashi's commentary on the Pentateuch and Sefer Be'urim is Isserlin's contribution to that genre. It is based, to some extent, on sermons he delivered to his congregation. Included in Isserlein's remarks are comments of historical interest and references to earlier Ashkenazic sages including his paternal grandfather, Hayyim of Hainberg (Austria), his great grandfather, Israel of Krems, Austria, and his teacher, Aaron Blumelein. The popularity of Isserlein's Be'urim is attested to by the fact that it was twice reprinted in the following 40 years. So desirable and scarce was the first imprint of this important work that in 1562, the printer of the third edition, no less an authority than scholar, jurist and physician Jacob Marcaria proclaimed that its reprinting was necessitated by the disappearance of the Be'urim from the market, as "it is not to be found except in nooks and crannies."

Pesakim 'u-Khetavim, comprises 267 of Isserlein's responsa collected by his students. Seventy eight address marital relations, the remainder ritual and civil law. Most but not all are by Isserlein; fifteen are from one of his teachers, Shalom of Weiner-Neustadt, and five from a leading contemporary, Jacob Weil. Twenty seven, in a somewhat different form, can be found in his magnum opus, Terumat ha-Deshen. These responsa are important today, in addition to their halakhic value, for the information they provide about the life of central European Jewry in the fifteenth century.