Bidspirit auction | ERGAS, YOSEF. Divrei Yoseph [responsa].

ERGAS, YOSEF. Divrei Yoseph [responsa]. First Edition. Title within three-piece ornamental border. A wide-margined, large-paper copy. ff. (1), 110. Dampstained, blank portion removed from title and final leaf, corners rounded. Modern boards. Folio. Vinograd, Livorno 32. Livorno, Avraham Meldola, 1742.     With an interesting introduction by Ergas’s disciple R. Malachi HaKohen (author of Yad Malachi) which includes a detailed biography of the author. Ergas (1685-1730) established a Yeshiva in Pisa and later served as Rabbi of Livorno. In addition to his halachic scholarship, Ergas is renowned for his polemics against Nehemia Hayon refuting Sabbatian belief, countering the latter’s ‘HaTzad Tzvi’ against the Chacham Tzvi with his ‘Hatzad Nachash’. See E. Carlebach, The Pursuit of Heresy (1990) pp. 137-43.