LONDON, JACOB BEN MOSES JUDAH
Editor’s draft for approbation and afterword for the Venetian edition of R. ...

LONDON, JACOB BEN MOSES JUDAH
Editor’s draft for approbation and afterword for the Venetian edition of R. Joshua Heschel’s ‘Meginei Shlomo’ (Venice, 1741). Entire manuscript in hand of the editor: Ya’akov ben Moshe Yehudah of London.


Contains:

* The verbatim Haskamah of Venetian Rosh Yeshiva, R. Yitzchak ben Asher Pacifico.

* An ultimately discarded and thus unpublished draft of editor R. Ya’akov ben Moshe Yehudah London’s Kethav Hithnatzluth (Afterword), found on ff. 148 of the printed text.

The present version, written in rabbinic prose, is completely different from the printed one, although tells a similar story of how London came to print this edition of Meginei Shlomo, down to thanking the same financial backers by name.

One leaf (two pages). 42x29 cm.
Venice: 1740


R. Ya’akov ben Moshe Yehudah (c. 1690-1750) grew up in London, where his father served as Chazan. A student at R. Shmuel Schotten’s Yeshiva in Frankfurt, he served as an educator in Lissa and Prague. During this period he authored his magnum opus, ‘Sepher Histha’aruth Melech HaNegev im Melech HaTzafon’, describing the battle between the Good and Evil Inclinations. While in Amsterdam overseeing the publication of his work in 1737, he came across R. Heschel’s Meginei Shlomo. So motivated by the ferocious debates it inspired in the Batei Medrash of Amsterdam, R. London took it upon himself to reprint the work at Venice. True to his word, the new edition was finalized in 1741. He remained in Italy, where he printed one other work, Shiva Einayim (Livorno, 1745).

R. Yitzchak ben Asher Pacifico (18th century) was the leading rabbi in Venice during his time and played a central role in the controversy between R. Moshe Chagiz and R. Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (RaMCHa”L) which eventually resulted in the later’s move to Amsterdam. Pacifico authored a five-volume work of responsa, entitled Mishpat Shalom, preserved in manuscript form to this day. He also authored the introduction to Bragadin’s famed Sha’ar Bath Rabim prayer-book (Venice, 1710-17).

For more on London, see https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/london-jacob-ben-moses-judah, as well as London’s lengthy introductions to his work ‘Hista’aruth’ (Amsterdam, 1737) and the present text.

Regarding Pacifico’s relationship with the RaMCHa”L, see Spiegel, Y.S, ‘Hitnagdut LeHadfasat Sifrei Rebbi Yeshayahu Bassan V’Od M’Inyanei Ramchal, Kefi Sh’Oleh MeTeshuvat Rebbi Yitzchak Pacifico’, Hama’ayan 54:4 (2014) pp. 5-42, as well as Spiegel, Y.S., ‘Al Psak Halachah shel Ramchal V’al Limud Kabalah Lerabim: Teshuvot Chadashot Mektav Yad Sefer Mishpat Shlaom LeRabbi Yitzchak Pacifico’, Hama’ayan 55:3 (2015) pp. 40-54.