BABYLONIAN TALMUD, TRACTATE TEMURAH, VENICE: DANIEL BOMBERG, 1528

34 folios (13 1/8 x 9 in.; 334 x 228 mm) (collation: i-iii8, iv10) on paper. Tapering text on f. 27v. Slight scattered staining (see esp. ff. 33v-34r); light dampstaining in upper margins throughout; minor worming diminishing through f. 29v and affecting only individual letters; damage to gutter at foot on ff. [1]-8 repaired. Modern calf paneled in blind, very slightly scuffed; title, place, and (incorrect) date lettered in gilt on spine; modern marbled paper flyleaves and pastedowns.

Temurah (Exchange), the sixth tractate in the order Kodoshim, treats, in seven chapters, the consequences of replacing a particular item dedicated to the Temple with another. Animals consecrated as private sacrifices maintain their sanctity even after the exchange has taken place, whereas public offerings do not. Likewise, property meant to support Temple building repairs can be switched without incurring a penalty. Other questions discussed include the status of the offspring of consecrated animals, consecrated animals whose owners have died, and the proper method for disposing of property from which one may not benefit. Temurah, like Nedarim, Nazir, Kereitot, Me‘ilah, and part of Tamid, is one of the “special tractates” written in a peculiar dialect of Aramaic that seem not to have benefited from final editorial polishing. It is distinguished by a profusion of “alternative readings” and uses unique terminology not generally found elsewhere in Talmudic literature.

Provenance

Meir bar Naphtali (f. [1r])

Hayyim Isaac ben Azriel Ber, Jerusalem (f. [1r])

Literature

A.M. Habermann, Ha-madpis daniyyel bombirgi u-reshimat sifrei beit defuso (Safed: The Museum of Printing Art, 1978), 63 (no. 125).

Vinograd, Venice 131