Discovery: Sma"g. Venice, 1547. Hundreds of Comments by the Maharsh"al Handwritten by his Disciple, the Author of ...

Discovery: Sma"g. Venice, 1547. Hundreds of Comments by the Maharsh"al Handwritten by his Disciple, the Author of Kaneh Binah, with Differences from the Printed Version!

Sefer Mitzvot Gadol - 'SeMaG' by Rabbi Moshe of Coucy, with the Commentaries of Rabbi Eliyahu Mizrachi and Rabbi Isaac Stein. Venice, Printed in the House of Daniel Bomberg, 1547. A Fine and Important Edition, First Printing of Rabbi Isaac Stein’s Commentaries.

Between the pages of the book are hundreds [!] of glosses handwritten by the illustrious kabbalist Rabbi Elazar Perles-Altschuler, most of which contain notes and insights from his teacher, the Maharshal (Rabbi Shlomo Luria), on the SeMaG. Some of these glosses feature variations from the currently known text!

It is unnecessary to elaborate on the tremendous importance of precise wording in the writings of one of the greatest commentators of all time—the Maharshal. For centuries, scholars have debated which books were available to the Maharshal when he wrote his works and which were not, as this had a direct impact on his halachic rulings. These marginalia are of even greater weight, considering that they were recorded by his most reliable student, who was the first to print the Maharshal’s "Yam Shel Shlomo", even adding his own annotations!

The Marginalia in this Book Can Be Divided into Two Sections:

First Section: Negative Commandments (Mitzvot Lo Ta’aseh). This section contains the primary scholarly significance of the volume: in the opening pages, over one hundred glosses from the Maharshal are written in dense script, following the text in order. Some of them differ from the known versions, and there may even be unpublished glosses. Due to the sheer number of corrections and textual variations, these marginalia can almost be considered a separate edition with new perspectives.

Second Section: Positive Commandments (Mitzvot Aseh). This section includes several dozen glosses, some from the Maharshal and other commentators, and others authored by Rabbi Elazar himself.

The identity of the writer is confirmed without a doubt in a gloss on page 99/2, where he refers to his own book, "Kaneh Binah, " a kabbalistic work he printed in Prague in 1611 (5371), stating:

"And in my holy book 'Kaneh Binah, ' you will find wondrous secrets on these two verses, refer to it there."

Additionally, in an interesting gloss on page 234/2, he writes:

"And I wrote in my 'D'vayk Tov' two interpretations, and there I cited my teacher, the great Gaon, Rabbi Yoel Av Beit Din of Kraków, may he live long."

This Rabbi Yoel is none other than Rabbeinu Bach, author of "Bayit Chadash" (BaCH), who assumed the rabbinate of Kraków in 1619 (5379).

On page 10/1, it is written:

"Thus wrote the Maharshal in his great composition 'Yam Shel Shlomo' on Tractate Avodah Zarah."

The "Yam Shel Shlomo" is the Maharshal’s most important work, one that he labored over for decades with intense scrutiny. The Maharshal himself testified that he did not leave a single book unread before completing his magnum opus.

Historical Significance of SeMaG

The Sefer Mitzvot Gadol (SeMaG) is one of the fundamental books in Jewish law. It is said that Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan (the Chafetz Chaim) advised his son to dance with the SeMaG on Simchat Torah, stating that "the entire Torah is included in it."

The Maharshal's commentary on the SeMaG is known as "Amudei Shlomo", first printed in Basel in 1600 (5360) by Rabbi Eliyahu Loans—the "Baal Shem of Worms."

560, [2], 561–716 pages. 31 cm.

Ancient signatures on the title page, very faded.

Good condition overall.

Title page restored artistically with frame completion via facsimile.

Margins of the first three pages and last ten pages restored professionally.

Aged stains throughout.

Antique wooden binding covered in leather, with remnants of clasps and metal corners. Spine restored.

Housed in a new leather protective case.