Evening star., 1935-03-17

1886 at Versailles by A. L. Schloss.
berg, are in the Library here.
The third compilation, called the
Halakhoth Gedoloth. by some at
tributed also to Jehudai. but by others
to Simeon Kayyara, who fourished
about the middle Of the ninth CEN
tury, is considered Of greater irnpor-
tance. The Library has a first edi-
ton Of this work. printed in Venice
in 1548. An interesting fact concern
ing this compilation is that it obvi-
ously was intended for general use
and not merely folBs&aolars and Tall
mudists because EW its an entire
group Of laws whic game inoper-
ative Of necessity upW the destruc-
ton of the temple and the beginning
of the dispersal.
/ Later codeXes are on the shelves
of the Library and some illustrate
| how secular much Of the Jewish law
is. For example, there are works of
Hal Of Pumbedtha, translated from
| the Arabic, on buying and selling and
on mortgages. Then there are the
notes Of Eleazer Ben Aryeh and the
Mishpete Shebuoth, a work on oaths.
! The center of Jewish learning
moved out Of the East and into North
Africa and Spain and the next great
code to appear is the Code of Alfasi.
This code laid down rules for the
reaching Of decisions in vexed cues
tionS among the Jews. The Library
| has the 1921 edition printed at Venice
as we'll as Frankfurt. Basle, Amster-
| dam, Sulzbach, Vienna and johann
nisberg editions The Rabbi Isaac
Alfasi lived from 1913 to llO3, de-
voting that near century of life to
study Of the law and the prophets.
Code of Maimonides.
The most monumental Of all the
codes is the Code of Maimonides.
Moses Ben Maimonides lived from
1875 to 1904 and must have made
of this Codification his life work. so
comprehensive it is. It is called in
the Hebrew tongue the Misnah Torah,
a term which implies that, after this,
no further codification will ever be
needed. The work is divided into
IA books and follows different sys.
TEN from the earlier codes. So thor.
oughly had some of the ancient de-
cisions impregnated the original law
that their authors are not even
identified; they are taken as part
Of the law itself, as, indeed, they had
become through generations Of ac-
ceptance.
Concerning this great code DR..
Schapiro says: The Code of Mai
monides represents the greatest at.
tempt ever made to digest the entire
mass Of what is called oral Law,
scattered and complex as it is, in a
clear, orderly. logically coherent man
ner. 1t contains all definitions Of
the law, all traditional explanations,
/ statutes and regulations, including
| those of the geonlm and the customs
which were given, introduced, or
adopted from the time of Moses to
the completion Of the Talmud; also
the ethical ideals, moral teachings
and doctrlnal principles which we're
traditional or which had been estab-
llshed by the sages or adopted by
. general consent" He declares it the
greatest work CT rabbinical literature
and his description suggests no prob
able exception TO this estimate.
So colossal a work inevitably pro-
duced a cloud of commentaries. The
code and many Of the important
commentaries are on the shelves Of
the Library, printings beginning at
Constantinople in 1902
The Library has an impressive COL
lection Of what might be called sub
sidiary or provincial codes. repre-
Senting adaptations to meet local re-
QuirementS. Wherever the dispersal
either led or drove the Jews. scholars
arose to produce interpretations Of
the law for them.