Mechir Yayin on Megillas Esther
Cremona, 1559
The Rema’s first sefer!
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The Rema’s first sefer!
Beautiful copy
An original commentary on Megillas Esther by Rabbi Moshe Isserlish, the Rema of Cracow, who composed this work on the day of Purim 1556 while in exile.
This exceedingly rare item was the very first sefer published by the Rema!
The Rema was born in the year 1540, and this sefer was thus written when he was only 16 years old. It was printed 3 years later when he was 19!
In the preface to this sefer, the Rema writes that he composed this work in 1556 after fleeing his native Cracow, which was consumed by the plague, to the city of Shidlov, near Warsaw. The refugees were poverty-stricken and starving, lacking basic food and amenities. “There was barely water to drink, ” he writes, so surely there was no wine for them to drink on the day of Purim. “Thus we could not fulfill the Mitzvah of Purim with drinking and joy…instead he composed this sefer entitling it Mechir Yayin, which literally translates into “the cost of wine.”
In the preface the Rema Cites the Zohar, that Megillas Esther as all other Scriptures, encompasses both revealed and kabbalistic meanings. In this commentary, he illuminates the megillah as a parable to the life of a man, which is rife with battles against his evil inclination, from the day of his birth until his death.
During this period, the printing presses in Cracow were not functioning; therefore the Rema dispatched his manuscript to be printed in Italy.
Cremona, 1559. First edition. 24 leaves. Page size: 19.5 cm. Beautiful copy in excellent condition with new leather binding.
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