Consigned to Flames
Mishneh Torah, Venice,
1550-51, and Mishneh Torah,Venice, 1550-51, are two editions
from the same place and done in the same year. And thereon hangs a
tale of woe we first encountered in the chapter on the Talmud.
Printing was introduced to the Near East by the
brothers David and Samuel Nahmias, exiles from Spain who found haven
in the Ottoman Empire. They made Constantinople the center of Hebrew
printing in the first decade of the sixteenth century. Their edition
of the Mishneh Torah was their sixth published work.
Illustrated is the first page of the fourth book, dealing with family
law: marriage, divorce, infidelity, etc. (Moses Maimonides, Mishneh
Torah, Constantinople, 1509. Hebraic Section, Library
of Congress Photo).
 |
The first was an edition published by the newly
established press of Alvise Bragadini, the second by Marco Antonio
Giustiniani, who had assumed the mantle once worn by Daniel Bomberg as
the premier printer of Hebrew books, declaring on his printer's mark
which depicted the Temple in Jerusalem,
"Great shall be the glory of this house." Recriminations,
accusations, a rabbinic ban, and a papal decree kindled pyres in which
the Talmud and kindred Hebrew books were burned in leading Italian cities. The
wanton destruction of sacred books, the hatred and fears engendered,
the severe blow to Jewish cultural and spiritual life were tragic, but
perhaps more tragic was the realization of the precariousness of
Jewish existence. Christian printers were competing for business;
apostates were currying favor with their new coreligionists by
wreaking vengeance on their old; a curia eager for yet another
opportunity to proclaim the "glory of God" was putting His
word and His law to the flames; and Jews, fearful of frightful
punishment, were offering up to the flames their most precious
possessions, their sacred books.
|
|
As the sun was setting on the Daniel Bomberg
Hebrew printing empire in Venice, two aspirants competed for his
mantle — Marco Giustiniani and Alvise Bragadini. The former, aware
of the popularity of the Mishneh Torah, planned a grand
edition, but the latter was able to publish one earlier. The
Giustiniani edition appeared in the same year, and carried an attack
on the other. Attack led to counterattack, accusations,
recriminations, a rabbinic ban, and soon to a papal decree ordering
the burning of the Talmud-with kindred books added to the pyre. (Moses
Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Bragadini, Venice, 1550-51 and Moses
Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Giustiniani, Venice, 1550-51,
Hebraic Section, Library
of Congress Photo)
Not many copies of these historic editions remain.
The Library's are made all the more precious by their rarity and by
their role as witnesses to history.
A grand edition of the Mishneh Torah,
distinguished for its textual accuracy and aesthetic composition, was
published by the Bragadini press of Venice in 1574. Its editor, Meir
Parenzo, utilized a manuscript brought from Safed, and one corrected
in the Egyptian academy. Its aesthetic accomplishment is represented
here by a few of the many astronomical illustrations. What is most
interesting, however, is the first printing of a commentary by Joseph
Caro, whose code, the Shulhan Aruch, was destined to eclipse
that of Maimonides's as the standard code of Jewish law (Moses
Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Venice, 1574. Hebraic Section.
Hebraic Section, Library of Congress
Photo).
 |
The printing house of Giustiniani did not long
survive, but that of Bragadini flourished. After the fires in the city
squares and in the hearts of the zealots were extinguished, Bragadini
published a splendid edition of the Mishneh Torah in 1574. It
consisted of four volumes, tastefully arranged, well printed on fine
paper, replete with traditional commentaries and featuring a new one,
the Kesef Mishneh of "the wondrous scholar," Joseph
Caro, published during his lifetime. This edition unites the
author of the first comprehensive code of Jewish law, Maimonides,
with Caro who fashioned what was to become the standard code of Jewish
law, the Shulhan
Aruch.
Sources: Abraham J. Karp, From
the Ends of the Earth: Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress,
(DC: Library of Congress,
1991).
|