Teshuvot Maharam Mintz (Responsa of the Maraham...)
Saloniki (Thessaloniki): Mordekhai Nahman and David Yisraeliga, 1802. Second edition. Modern cloth. Quarto (25 by 16.5 cm). [2], 136 leaves. Hebrew text in rabbinic font, arranged in two columns. Title within elaborate letterpress borders with textual quotations; woodcut printer's device verso title (approbations page); publication date in chronogram. Recent royal blue cloth; text block with speckled edges. Title leaf reinforced with tissue along fore-edge; title with tear along gutter (7 cm) and small, mostly marginal, worm traces; worming vanishes by the sixth leaf, with very minimal text loss; slightest marginal worm tracing at final 20 leaves; entry at bottom margins of the title and four other pages excised in black marker (not affecting text); several leaves lightly toned, else a very good copy with crisp, clean text.
Very scarce second edition of this collection of rabbinic responsa issued by Moses ben Isaac Segal Mintz (15th century). First published at Krakow in 1617, this is the author's only published work. Born in Mainz between 1420 and 1430, Moses Mintz studied with Jacob Weil and Israel Isserlein, and while still quite young was appointed rabbi of Würzburg. Mintz led a peripatetic life which allowed him to investigate Jewish customs and communal regulations in many towns. After the 1453 expulsion of the Jews from Würzburg he returned to Mainz until the expulsion of 1462. He subsequently went to Landau and Ulm. In 1469 he was appointed rabbi of Bamberg. Four years later he was in Nürnberg and the following year in Posen. There he made preparations to emigrate to Palestine, but for unknown reasons decided to remain in Posen until the end of his life.
"Mintz's prominence and recognized authority resulted in may other rabbis turning to him with halakhic queries on such issues as issur ve-heter (dietary laws) and communal customs" (Heller). His circle of correspondents included Israel Isserlein, Joseph Colon, Eliezer Treves, and his cousin, Judah Mintz. As the present collection notably deals with practical issues of contemporary importance, especially civil and matrimonial law -- including customs and the enactments of Rabbenu Gershom -- they provide insight into Jewish life in fifteenth-century Germany. Issues of some notable responsa include taxes placed on Jews by local rulers; obligations of a wealthy man to his wife's poor relatives; a woman who committed adultery, repented and swears the child is from her husband; if a person blind in one eye can be a judge in a case of halitzah (when a man is released from the general obligation to marry his deceased brother's widow); and if one should mourn for a murderer. "Of special value are three responsa in manuscript entitled 'The Three Branches' which are an important source for the history of the yeshivot [rabbinic schools] of Germany in the 15th century. They depict the woeful condition of pupil-teacher relations, which had broken down as a result of the arrogance of the teachers and their exaggerated concern for their dignity, as well as because of the pupils' desire for greater freedom of activity and the acquisition of social status" (EJ).
Approbations of Istanbul rabbis: Ezekiel Refael Chaim Alfandari; Michael Ashkenazi; Moshe Frishko
Provenance: Ink stamps of the Yeshiva Ha-Metivta ha-Gedolah (Jerusalem) at approbation page and bottom margin of one text page. Very good-. Item #55778
References: Enc. Jud. (1st ed.) 12: 65-66; M. J. Heller, The Seventeenth Century Hebrew Book, pp. 346-347 (first ed. 1617); Vinograd (Salonica) 515; Cf. Steinschneider 6529.1 (ed. Krakow, 1617 - but not noting the present edition!)
Title and imprint (Hebrew): תשובות מהר׳׳ם מינץ נדפס פה שאלוניקי יע׳׳א בדפוס מרדכי נחמן וחברו דוד ישראליג׳ה
Date chronogram: [5]562 = וירא משה
Yeshiva stamp: המתיבתא הגדולא בית הראש׳׳ל ישיבה תיכון.
Price: $1,250.00