Babylonian Talmud, Venice: Daniel Bomberg, Tractate Avodah Zarah, 1520, with Tractates Horayot, 1521, and Eduyyot, 1521

3 tractates (12 3/4 x 9 1/8 in.; 324 x 232 mm): 

Avodah zarah: 96 of 97 folios (collation: i-xi⁸, xii¹⁰ [i₁ lacking, xii₁₀ (blank) removed]) on paper. Woodcut initial word panel; enlarged incipits. Scattered staining; tape repairs to holes and tears throughout, at times affecting text (see ff. 2, 8, 10-11, 17, 19, 24, 27-28 [mislabeled 25], 29, 35-37, 57, 61, 63, 68-70, 75); small tear in upper and lower edges of f. 9; hole in outer margins of ff. 13, 17; small tear in text on f. 20; tear in lower edge of f. 94; margins shaved, at times cutting off some of the marginalia.



Horayot: 18 of 18 folios (collation: i⁸, ii⁶, iii⁴) on paper. Woodcut initial word panel; enlarged incipits. Slight scattered staining and/or foxing.



Eduyyot: 14 of 17 folios (collation: i⁸, ii¹⁰ [i₈ (blank) removed, ii₅,₈,₉ lacking, ii₁₀ (blank) removed]) on paper. Two woodcut initial word panels. Scattered staining; minor tear to title page; f. i₇ with tape repair touching some text; tape repair to f. ii₁; f. ii₄ lacking part of inner column; f. ii_6-7 bound out of order, with tape repairs.



Modern foliation in pencil near lower-left corner of recto; some marginalia, pen trials, and owners’ marks throughout. Leaves reinforced and lightly stained along gutter; minor mold stains in lower-left corner throughout. Later three-quarter cloth over paper; modern paper flyleaves and pastedowns.

Avodah zarah (Idolatrous Worship) is included in the mishnaic order of Nezikin because it is associated with the tractates Sanhedrin and Makkot, which also refer to laws on idolatry. The treatise contains a large percentage of aggadic as well as important historical material concerning the relations between Jews and non-Jews, including Christians, Gnostics, and Zoroastrians. In light of frequent Jewish tensions with non-Jewish authorities, early copies of this tractate, subject as they often were to heightened scrutiny and censorship, have always been particularly scarce.

Horayot (Rulings) is a rather short tractate in three chapters, also attached to the order of Nezikin, whose scriptural basis may be found in Leviticus ch. 4 and Numbers 15:22-31. Those biblical passages deal with “sinning through error,” and the Talmud extrapolates to discuss erroneous rulings by the high priest or the high court (Sanhedrin), leading to the inadvertent violation of precepts which, had they been willfully transgressed, would have carried the punishment of karet (excision). The text of the Jerusalem Talmud to Horayot was printed by Bomberg in the slot normally occupied by the Tosafot commentaries because Bomberg’s editors found no Tosafot on this tractate. To this day, the text of his edition is one of the best available, as subsequent printers often tampered with it.

Eduyyot (Testimonies) is a collection of laws on a wide variety of topics. Its title reflects the purpose of the collection: to put on record the “testimonies” given by later sages on the halakhic pronouncements and controversies of earlier authorities. Thus, the phrase “Rabbi So-and-So testified [he‘id]” occurs frequently, especially in the later chapters. The fact that the correctness of these halakhic traditions was established before a court and consequently designated as “testimonies” may also explain why this tractate was included in the order of Nezikin, which, to a large extent, treats of judicial law and procedure. The text printed here is that of the Mishnah alone (there is no Gemara on Eduyyot either in the Babylonian or Jerusalem Talmuds), accompanied by the commentaries of Rabbis Moses Maimonides (1138-1204; in a single quire of eight leaves) and Abraham ben David of Posquières (ca. 1125-1198; in another quire of ten leaves).

Provenance

Avodah zarah:

Jacob Sassoon (f. 3r)

Isaac Asban (f. 11v, 34v, 35r, 38v)

Abraham Yavets (f. 45v)

Aaron Sassoon (f. 97v)

Eduyyot:

Isaac (f. 1r)

Literature

A.M. Habermann, Ha-madpis daniyyel bombirgi u-reshimat sifrei beit defuso (Safed: The Museum of Printing Art, 1978), 34-35 (nos. 25, 42, 43).

Vinograd, Venice 29, 41, 48