SEFER LEVUSH ATERET ZAHAV GEDOLAH, SEFER LEVUSH IR SHUSHAN, SEFER LEVUSH HA-BUTS VE-HA-ARGAMAN (HALAKHIC CODES), RABBI MORDECHAI JAFFE, KRAKOW: ISAAC BEN AARON PROSTITZ, 1594-1599

Rabbi Mordechai Jaffe (ca. 1535-1612), a native of Prague, was sent to Poland in his youth to study under Rabbis Solomon Luria (ca. 1510-1574) and Moses Isserles (1525/1530-1572), some of the leading lights of the generation. At the tender age of 18, he was appointed head of the yeshiva in Prague but soon found his students more interested in casuistry than in a thoroughgoing understanding of the Talmud. He thereupon decided to set about summarizing the Beit yosef (Venice and Sabbioneta, 1550-1559) of Rabbi Joseph Caro (1488-1575), which he found overly long, and supplementing the Shulhan arukh with Isserles’ glosses (Krakow, 1577-1580), which he found overly short. Due to numerous hardships and interruptions, his work would not be finished for several decades.

When it was finally completed, Jaffe’s Levush malkhut comprised ten parts, each one named for a different word or phrase in Esther 8:15-16: “Mordechai left the king’s presence in royal robes [levush malkhut] of blue [tekhelet] and white [hur], with a magnificent crown of gold [ateret zahav gedolah] and a mantle of fine linen [buts] and purple wool [argaman]. And the city of Shushan [ir shushan] rang with joyous cries. The Jews enjoyed light [orah] and gladness [simhah], happiness [sason] and honor [yekar].” The first five sections – Ha-tekhelet, Ha-hur, Ateret zahav gedolah, Ha-buts ve-ha-argaman, and Ir shushan – correspond to the four volumes of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher’s Arba‘ah turim (with Orah hayyim split in two). The latter five – Ha-orah, Ha-simhah ve-ha-sason, Pinnat yikrat, Eder ha-yekar, and Even ha-yekarah – constitute commentaries and expositions on a range of subjects. The various parts (excepting Ha-simhah ve-ha-sason, which was never actually printed) were originally published at various presses in Lublin, Krakow, and Prague from 1590 to 1603; the first five parts would appear together for the first time in Prague in 1609.

The present lot comprises complete copies of the first editions of Levushim 3-5, all printed in Krakow: Ateret zahav gedolah on the laws of Yoreh de‘ah, Ha-buts ve-ha-argaman on the laws of Even ha-ezer, and Ir shushan on the laws of Hoshen mishpat.