Piskei Halakhot, Menahem ben Benjamin Recanati, Bologna: Company of Silk Weavers, 1538

74 leaves (8 ¼ x 6 in.; 210 x 150 mm). [12], 1-62. Broad margins. Initial word within woodcut floral frame. Owners’ notations and inkstamps on title; inkstamp repeated on first and last numbered leaves. Censor’s signature on recto of final leaf (Giovanni Domenico Vistorini, 1609), though only a single passage has been crossed out on f. 22v).  Lightly stained and soiled; losses, none affecting text expertly repaired. Modern half morocco.

Vinograd, Bologna 12; See also: Moshe Idel, R. Menachem Recanati ha-Mekubal (1998).

FIRST EDITION

Although better known for his kabbalistic works, Perush al ha-Torah (Venice, 1523), Ta'amei ha-Mitzvot and Perush ha-Tefillot (Constantinople, 1544), this halakhic work from the Italian kabbalist Menahem ben Benjamin Recanati (late 13th-early 14th centuries) is an important repository of Franco-German halakhic tradition, based on the earlier writings  of German and French decisors. It is reported that later editions of Piskei Halakhot are heavily censored, missing entire entries, primarily those with material pertaining to non-Jews. The present edition was reviewed by a Catholic Church censor in 1609 resulting in the eradication of only a single short section of fewer than a dozen words (f. 22v).