Munich Sha"s Printed by Survivors after the Holocaust Munich-Heidelberg, 1949

Munich Sha"s Printed by Survivors after the Holocaust Munich-Heidelberg, 1949

Holocaust survivors: Talmud Bavli: 'The Munich Sha"s' printed by the survivors immediately after the Holocaust, on German soil. Munich-Heidelberg, 1949. Original bindings. Complete set, 19 volumes. Based on the Vilna edition of Sha"s. Published by Va'ad Agudat HaRabbanim in the American Zone of Germany, for Holocaust survivors.

During the destruction of European Jewry, even Jewish libraries all over the continent were destroyed, as described in the introduction of the Munich Sha"s by Rabbi Senig and Rabbi Rose. They very movingly relate the deeds of the accursed Nazis who toiled to burn all the sifrei kodesh "That bitter day is still engraved in our minds, when the order arrived in the ghetto from the evil Nazi regime to gather all the sefarim into one place, to remove and destroy them. Risk of death awaited anyone who left even one book behind."

The survivors took the initiative to create one of the most interesting and symbolic enterprises of the Holocaust survivors in Germany - printing various sefarim in improvised presses.

The crown jewel of the printing enterprise in the DP camps was the printing of the Talmud. Va'ad Hatzala in the United States was enlisted for this. The initiative to reprint the Talmud was led by Rabbi Rose and Rabbi Shmuel Abba Senig and funded by the Joint. It enjoyed the support of the American military authorities. The rabbis viewed this project as of first-rate importance, as it enabled the study of gemara to return to its rightful place at the center of Jewish life. First a single volume was printed with Tractates Nedarim and Kiddushin, and only in 1949 was the entire Talmud reprinted, in 19 large volumes. This lot includes the complete set of this special edition Talmud. There were only 600 sets printed in total, of which approximately 100 arrived in the Land of Israel.

This edition is called "The Munich Sha"s"or "The Survivors' Sha"s." It is characterized by color title pages designed especially to mark the event of the printing of the Talmud on the scorched earth of Germany, with illustrations of Jewish towns in the Land of Israel and a labor camp surrounded by barbed wire, and the inscriptions “Labor camp in Germany during the Nazi reign, ” and “They have almost destroyed me in the land, but I did not abandon your commands, ” integrated with elements of redemption. The unique title page illustrations were made by artist G. Rosenkrantz, as he signed in the margins of the title page. This edition is very sought-after by collectors.

39 cm. All of the bindings are original and in fine condition. Five of the volumes are reinforced in the spine.

The vast majority of the leaves of the sefarim are in very fine condition, without obvious signs of use excluding:

Tractate Berachot - Slight wear in the first leaves. One leaf is detached.  Tractate Beitzah - The second title page and the following leaf are detached with minor tears in the white margins.  Tractate Pesachim - Tears in the first three leaves without lack in the text.  Tractate Ta'anit - Large tear without lack in the text in leaf 10 of the leaves of the Ri"f.  Tractate Shabbat - Restored tear in leaf 2. Slight tears in the first leaves.  Tractate Yoma - Restored tears in both title pages.  Creases in the title pages of several tractates.