Minhagim, Simon Levi Gunzburg, Venice: Juan de Gara, 1590

Sefer Minhagim, originally composed by Issac Tyrnau, a fifteenth-century Austrian rabbi, is a compilation of codes and customs that specified the proper conduct for Jewish festivals and life cycle events. Tyrnau’s aim was to create a common minhag for Ashkenazic Jewry, decimated by the massacres and expulsions during the outbreak of the Black Death in 1348–50, which had uprooted so many of the Jewish communities of Germany. Although originally written in Hebrew, in 1589 a Yiddish adaptation by Simon ha-Levi Gunzburg was printed in Venice for the benefit of a lay audience not schooled in Hebrew. The Yiddish version enjoyed immense popularity, especially among German and Polish Jews, and consequently was republished numerous times. The popularity of the first edition, however, is attested to by its incredible scarcity. Only a single complete copy exists of this first edition, held in The Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary.