Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Mo‘ed Katan, Venice: Daniel Bomberg, 1539

Mo‘ed katan, the eleventh tractate in the order Mo‘ed, was itself originally referred to simply as Mo‘ed; with time, however, its name was changed to Mo‘ed katan (lit., Semi-Mo‘ed) in order to distinguish it from the mishnaic order. In three chapters, the treatise deals primarily with the laws of hol ha-mo‘ed (the intermediary days of the Passover and Sukkot festivals), especially the forms of labor (e.g., agricultural work, laundry, haircuts, etc.) prohibited on those days, as well as the circumstances under which such labor may be performed. Also discussed are the laws and customs of burial and mourning, both in general and on the Sabbath and festivals specifically. Although the volume’s title page states that this represents the second printing of the present tractate, 1539 was actually the third time Bomberg issued a run of Mo‘ed katan.

Physical Description

44 of 45 folios (12 7/8 x 9 1/4 in.; 327 x 235 mm) (collation: i-v⁸, vi⁴ [vi₅ lacking]) on paper. Ein mishpat, Ner mitsvah, Masoret ha-talmud, and Torah or references added in pen in the margins. Slight scattered staining (see especially ff. 20-21); minor dampstaining in upper edges; short tears periodically in edges; tape repairs to upper- and lower-outer corners; library stamps eliminated from ff. [1], 2, 44; small hole near gutter of f. [1]; small worm tracks in margins of ff. 32-44, mostly affecting only individual letters; edges of f. 44 damaged but stabilized with tape. Modern brown blind-tooled leather over board; spine in six compartments with raised bands; title, place, and date lettered in gilt on spine; modern marbled paper flyleaves and pastedowns. 

Literature 

A.M. Habermann, Ha-madpis daniyyel bombirgi u-reshimat sifrei beit defuso (Safed: The Museum of Printing Art, 1978), 72 (no. 159).