Shevet Yehudah with the Historical Account of the 1648-1649 Massacres by the Shach, Amsterdam, 1655
Sefer Shevet Yehudah containing accounts of debates and tribulations that befell Klal Yisrael throughout the generations, authored by the sage Rabbi Shlomo ibn Verga, who was among those exiled from Spain and Portugal.
This edition includes the famous historical letter of Rabbeinu Shabsai Cohen, the Shach – ‘Megilas Eifah’, in which he painfully recounts the events of 1648-1649 in the Jewish communities, where tens of thousands of Jews were murdered. The Shach was one of the foremost halachic authorities of recent generations.
This edition was printed during the lifetime of the saintly author – the Shach, and is the first time the letter was printed together with ‘Shevet Yehudah’. It was subsequently reprinted in this format many times.
The ‘Megilas Eifah’ was previously printed in two different editions of Selichos (Amsterdam 1651). However, both are extremely rare and were not intended for general distribution, as these Selichos were printed for Lithuanian Jewry and are in Nusach Lita, unlike sefer ‘Shevet Yehudah’ which was embraced by the broader Jewish public, and was even translated into Yiddish and Ladino.
A rare edition of great historical significance!
Amsterdam, 1655. First edition of Shevet Yehudah with Megilas Eifah.
Page Count: 88 leaves. Size: 15.3 cm. Condition: Good. Minor margin restorations on first 4 leaves. Tiny perforations. Antique colored binding.
The Shach’s Last Will and Testament to his Descendants
At the conclusion of ‘Megilas Eifah’, the Shach establishes the 20th of Sivan as a day of fasting and prayer for himself, his descendants, and all G-d fearing Jews, writing thus:
"Therefore I have established for myself and my generations, for my children and grandchildren, a day of fasting and affliction, mourning, lamentation and kinos on the 20th day of Sivan, when the Torah was given… and I have composed selichos and kinos with weeping and supplication… Perhaps Hashem will look down from His dwelling place and see that the wrath of the oppressor’s hand is still outstretched… and in every place where Jews are found, they are being killed…"
