Sefer Torat ha-Olah, Moses ben Israel Isserles, Prague: Mordecai ben Gershom Katz, 1569

Folio (11 7/8 x 7½ in.; 302 x 190 mm). [6],173 leaves, woodcut ornamental frame on title page, woodcut reproduction of device of Venetian printer Marco Antonio Giustiniani on ff. 33v and 69r; woodcut decorated initial word panel frames on ff. 34v and 70r; title with owners' inscriptions, includes the rare final leaf (f. 173) with acrostic poem missing from most copies; lightly browned throughout, occasional spotting. Eighteenth-century vellum, ms. title on spine.

N.H. Van Biema (his sale, 6 February 1905) at Joachimsthal, Amsterdam--sale sticker on front pastedown

Vinograd, Prague 36; Steinschneider. 6483, 22; Heller, The Sixteenth Century Hebrew Book, pp. 612-3.

Folio (11 7/8 x 7½ in.; 302 x 190 mm). 179 [6 + 173] leaves, woodcut ornamental frame on title page incorporating the printer's device (lion's head, surmounting hands spread in the manner of the priestly blessing, an allusion to the kohanic lineage of the printer,) woodcut of Temple (reproduction of device of Venetian printer Marco Antonio Giustiniani) on ff. 33v and 69r, on ff. 34v and 70r chapter headings historiated, title with owners' inscriptions, includes the rare final leaf (f. 173) with acrostic poem missing from most copies; lightly browned throughout, occasional spotting. Eighteenth-century vellum, ms. title on spine.
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Moses Isserles (c. 1530-1572), also known by the acronym Rema, is best-known for his glosses on the Shulhan Arukh of Joseph Caro. In this philosophic and scientific work, Torat ha-Olah, he explains the symbolism, meaning, and purpose of the Holy Temple, its measurements, and the sacrifices offered there. Written in a homiletic style, Torat ha-Olah has been described as showing "an affinity for kabbalistic philosophy as it was emerging from the north Italian yeshivot." Isserles attempts to justify the study of philosophy and show its consistency with Kabbalah, the differences between these studies being a matter of expression.

Considerable attention is given to astronomy, which, together with cosmological process, is correlated to the measurements of the Temple and the meaning of sacrifices. Isserles follows Maimonides in believing that Aristotle is correct concerning the sublunar world, but in error as regards creation. Isserles' discussions of philosophy and science engendered attacks from Solomon Luria, to which Isserles replied in several printed responsa.