Sibling Rivalry: Simultaneous Editions of Hebrew Books1 on August 12

CHAPTER SIXTEEN SIBLING RIVALRY: SIMULTANEOUS EDITIONS OF HEBREW BOOKS1 And the children struggled together inside her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, two nations are in your womb, and two peoples shall be separated from your bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. (Gen. 25:22–23) On August 12, 1553, Pope Julius III issued a papal bull ordering the confis- cation and burning of the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds. In a time of religious turmoil and repression in Europe—the Counter-Reformation— this particular decree represented the culmination of a dispute between two printers, neither of whom were Jewish, over competing editions of Maimonides’ (Rambam, 1153–1204) Mishneh Torah with the glosses of R. Meir Katzenellenbogen of Padua (Maharam, 1482–1565). This particular instance of the burning and subsequent censorship of primary works of rabbinic Judaism is among the most horrific examples of the pernicious results of a dispute between printers. Indeed, one observer, R. Abraham Menahem ben Jacob ha-Kohen Rapa mi-Porto (Rapaport, 1520–c. 1594), an eyewitness to the subsequent burning of the Talmud in Venice, described it thus: יד as in] “the hand] שיד The burning of the Oral Law [Talmud] in the year of the Lord was upon us.” The decree went out from the city of Rome to use [the Talmud volumes] as fuel for the fire. In Venice—woe to the eyes that saw this—on the thirteenth and fourteenth of Marheshvan 5314 (Octo- ber 31/November 1, 1553), a continuous fire which was not extinguished. I fixed these days for myself, for each and every year, for fasting, weeping, and mourning, for this day was as bitter for me as the burning of the House of our God (the Temple) (Minhah belulah, on “a fiery law unto them” [Deu- teronomy 33:2]).2 1 The original version of this article was published in Quntres, 2, no. 1 (Winter 2011), 22–36 [cited August 30, 2012], available from https://taljournal.jtsa.edu/index.php/quntres. 2 For the sake of consistency, all secular dates in this article are according to the Grego- rian calendar. The date according to the Julian calendar was October 21/22, 1553. 306 chapter sixteen The altercation that resulted in the burning of the Talmud was not, however, an isolated case. The publication or appearance of simultaneous or near-simultaneous editions by different publishers is often sufficient grounds for complaints or egregious misbehavior by one of the parties. The history of publishing has been punctuated by disputes over the rights to issue a specific work, and Hebrew printing is no exception. This article addresses several simultaneous or near-simultaneous early publications, some, but not all, resulting in serious controversy, others passing almost unnoticed.3–4 In Italy, from the mid-sixteenth century, Jews were prohibited from owning printing-presses. Hebrew books were printed by non-Jews who had entered into various arrangements with Jews to publish such works, or by Jews at Christian presses. These arrangements were mutually beneficial, albeit somewhat forced. Indeed, the non-Jewish printers of Hebrew books were motivated by the profitability of that market, for “the Hebrew books sector, being unique, was rather attractive to inves- tors, being more limited and not as wildly competitive as the Italian book sector.”5 In addition, these Christian printers provided their attractive wood-cut borders, after much use, to their Jewish associates. The Jewish printer utilized his associate’s frame rather than commissioning more Jewish theme borders, because the smaller market for Hebrew books did not justify the expense of commissioning a new wood-cut. In 1550, in the case cited above, Alvise Bragadin published Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah (fig. 1) with R. Meir ben Isaac Katzenellenbogen (Maha- ram) of Padua’s glosses accompanying the text. Among the foremost rab- bis in Italy, Maharam had studied in Prague in the yeshiva of R. Jacob Pollak together with R. Shalom Shakna, the founders of the yeshiva sys- tem in Poland. Subsequently, Maharam relocated from Prague to Padua, where he served as rabbi for forty years until his death. Considered a 3 Several occurrences discussed in the article have been addressed by me elsewhere, as noted below. In those instances the material is modified, and in some cases conclusions are offered from a different perspective. 4 Not all simultaneous printings were published as rival or competitive editions. In 1686, for example, Abrabanel’s Perush ‘al nevi’im rishonim was printed both in Leipzig and in Hamburg, aimed at different markets. That another Perush ‘al nevi’im rishonim was being printed was apparently unknown to the two printers. I address the publication of these two editions in my “A Tale of Two Cities: Hamburg, Leipzig, and Don Isaac Abra- banel,” Gutenberg-Jahrbuch (Mainz, 2010): 153–61. 5 Zipora Baruchson, “Money and Culture: Financing Methods in the Hebrew Printing Shops in Cinquecento, Italy,” La Bibliofilia 92 (1990): 25..

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