Yafek Ratzon
Printed in the Palace of Donna Reyna Nasi
Belvedere, 1593
Singular Edition with only 300 copies ever printed!
Commentary on the year-round haftaros according to Sephardic and Ashkenazic customs by Rabbi Yitzchak Yaabetz, great-grandson of the chassid Rabbi Yosef Yaabetz.
In addition to the author’s original commentaries, this sefer is a treasure trove of the wisdom of Sephardic sages during the era of the Spanish expulsion and the period following it. In his commentary, Rabbi Yitzchak Yaabetz cites numerous renowned and lesser-known Sephardic sages along with the teachings of his great-grandfather, the Chassid Yaabetz. He also recounts explanations that he heard directly from the Alshich Hakadosh (see leaves 37a, 53a).
In his foreword, the author mentions that he printed only 300 copies of this sefer. This sefer is thus an extraordinary find, and it is unlikely that there are more than several copies still extant in the world.
In the National Library, there is one copy (the Mehlman copy) that is missing two pages at the end, and another copy whose last pages are damaged and torn.
The present copy of Yafek Ratzon is complete and in good condition. The title page bears the following inscription:
Printed in the home of the honorable noblewoman and woman of valor
Donna Reyna Nasi
Widow of the duke and great Jewish minister Don Yosef Hanasi
Belvedere, suburb of Constantinople
Donna Reyna Nasi was the only daughter of Donna Gracia, a scion of a family of Sephardic anusim and one of the wealthiest women in Europe.
In 1554, she married her cousin Don Yoseph Nasi, who later became the Foreign Minister of the Turkish Sultan and wielded enormous influence throughout the Turkish Empire, then the greatest power in Europe.
His palace in Belvedere near Constantinople was a gathering place for scholars, and delegations of great Jewish leaders were hosted in his home, including the Mabit and the holy Alshich.
After Don Yoseph’s death, the Sultan took all his wealth and left Donna Reyna only the palace in Belvedere and her ketubah money amounting to ninety thousand dinars.
With this sum she established a printing house in her home and printed seforim of great Jewish leaders, including two seforim by the holy Alshich who had then arrived in Constantinople as an emissary from Tzfas.
Reyna planned to print the entire Talmud after it had been burned several times, but this plan did not come to fruition as she passed away in 1599.
Over the course of four years, between 1593 and 1597, seven seforim were printed in Donna Reyna’s private press in the Belvedere palace.
Yafek Ratzon by Rabbi Yitzchak Yaabetz was the first sefer printed in Donna Reyna’s Hebrew press.
The printing date on the colophon is listed as follows:
“The printing of this work was completed on Tuesday, the 13th day of the month of Tammuz, 5353 (1593) in the home of the noblewoman Donna Reyna, widow of the duke and great Jewish minister Don Yosef Hanasi z”l, by the youth Yosef, son of my father Yitzchak Ashkeloni.”
Regarding Donna Reyna’s printing house in Kuru Chesme, see the sefer ‘Igeret Shmuel’ in this catalog.
The author
Rabbi Yitzchak Yaabetz was the son of the renowned Constantinople printer Rabbi Shlomo Yaabetz who was a son of Rabbi Yitzchak Yaabetz and grandson of the chassid Rabbi Yosef Yaabetz. Rabbi Yitzchak was a prolific author, and he lists many of his compositions in his foreword to the present sefer.
Despite the many manuscripts he produced, only three were printed: The present work Yafek Ratzon, Chasdei Avos (Constantinople, 1583); and Toras Chessed (Belvedere, circa 1594).
Several places in the sefer feature light amendments and erasures by the author himself. See, for example, the foreword where the word “haftaros” is corrected by hand to “ve’ha’haggadah”.
(These corrections by the same writer can also be found in the Mehlman edition that can be viewed on the National Library’s website.)
Belvedere, 1593. Singular edition! Page Count: [2], 57, [1] leaf.
Page Size: 19 cm.
Condition: Good. Few stains, mostly light water stains on marginsּ. Binding slightly worn. Antique leather-bound wooden binding with top clasp (bottom clasp missing).
Bibliography: Yaari, Constantinople #227; Ginzei Yisrael #657; Mehlman, Gnuzot Sefarim p. 133 Sibot Lenedirut Sefarim Ivri’im.
