Halachic fundemental
Shu”t Ralbach
First Edition
Venice, 1565
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Complete, beautiful copy.
Shailos and teshuvos by the Ralbach, Rabbi Levi ben Chaviv, with commentary on the Rambam’s laws of Kiddush Hachodesh; and Kuntress Hasemichah.
This sefer is complete with all title pages, indexes and the pages of “list of errors”.(The two leaves of the “list of errors” are missing from many copies of Shu”t Ralbach.)
Kuntress Hasemichah begins on Leaf 277 and presents the great debate between Ralbach and Rabbi Yaakov Beirav regarding the reinstatement of semichah among the sages of Tzfas.
The Ralbach’s essay on the Rambam’s laws of Kiddush Hachodesh, which encompasses illustrations and charts, was printed here for the first time and later included in subsequent editions of the Rambam.
Rabbi Levi ben Chaviv
(1480-1541 circa) known as the Ralbac”h was from the great rabbinical figures following the Spanish Expulsion.
He was born in Samurai, Spain to Rabbi Yaakov Chaviv, author of Ein Yaakov, and was exiled with his father from Spain. After his father’s passing, the Ralbach completed and printed the Ein Yaakov in Salonika, and then journeyed to Jerusalem where he settled and served as Rav for many years.
The Semichah Controversy.
458 years ago, Rabbi Yaakov Beirav of Tzfas determined that the time had come to reinstate the tradition of semichah, which is permission delivered from rabbi to disciple to rule in halachah and render judgment in a beis din. In the semichah process, the ordained rabbi/dayan awards the ordainee halachic prowess to rule in both monetary laws and laws pertaining to life and death. According to the Ramban in Sefer Hazechus, Gittin 36a, the tradition of semichah was terminated at the end of the Amoraic period.
One of Rabbi Yaakov Beirav’s primary objectives in reinstating semichah was in order to enable the Sephardic anusim who had begun streaming to Eretz Yisrael to atone for their sins with lashes, which only an ordained dayan is permitted to mete out to sinners.
In 1538, Mahar”i Beirav took initiative to obtain semichah from 25 of the venerable rabbanim and sages of Tzfas. Once ordained, he delivered semichah to a select group of disciples, most notably among them Rabbi Yosef Karo, author of the Beis Yosef and Shulchan Aruch, and the Mabit.
The Ralbach, Rabbi Levi ben Chaviv, who was the foremost Rav of Yerushalayim at the time, strongly condemned Rabbi Yaakov Beirav’s attempts to reinstate the long-buried tradition of semichah. Citing many halachic sources listed in the present Kuntress Hasemichah, he prohibited the practice and maintained that it was strictly forbidden. He based his opinion on the words of the Rambam himself, which was a source that Mahari Beirav cited when permitting the practice, and the fact that a musmach (ordainee) must be ordained by the majority of Rabbanim in Eretz Yisrael, as opposed to the sages of Tzfas alone.
At the time, the Ralbach’s opinion was not accepted by the majority of his Rabbinical colleagues, and those who had received ordination perpetuated the practice of ordaining their own talmidim. Famous examples include Rabbi Yosef Karo who ordained his talmid the Alshich Hakadosh who subsequently ordained Rabbi Chaim Vital. In Maggid Meisharim, Rabbi Yosef Karo writes that he was praised by the Maggid for “sacrificing your soul to restore the crown of semichah to its former glory.” Nonetheless, the Ralbach’s opinion triumphed four generations later, when his view was universally accepted, and semichah was abolished.
The primary source regarding the fierce Rabbinical debate that raged among the venerable sages of that generation is the present Kuntress Hasemichah which comprises approximately thirty leaves and was first printed within this sefer.
Venice, 1565. First edition. [6] 209, [1], 217-328 leaves. Page size: 28.5 cm. Owners signatures and censor licenses.
Stefansky Sifrei Yesod #292
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