Sefer Yesod
on Megillas Esther
Yoseph Lekach. Cremona, 1576. First Edition.
A comprehensive commentary on Megillas Esther by Rabbi Eliezer Ashkenazi.
The sefer was written by Rabbi Eliezer in honor of the minister Don Yosef Nasi (see below) and in his honor, he named the sefer ‘Yosef Lekach’.
The commentary became one of the primary commentaries on Megillas Esther and was accepted throughout the Jewish world. It is known that the Vilna Gaon’s commentary on Megillas Esther (by way of pshat) is based on the sefer ‘Yosef Lekach’. This is why Rabbi Shmuel Brevda, one of the leading scholars of the Vilna Gaon’s Torah in the past generation, recommended printing the commentary of the Vilna Gaon next to the sefer ‘Yosef Lekach’. (See the commentary of the Vilna Gaon with the sefer ‘Yosef Lekach’, edition of Rabbi Chanan David Nobel.)
Rabbi Eliezer Ashkenazi (Italy, 1512 – Krakow, 1586) was one of the greatest sages of his generation, who negotiated halacha with the Beis Yosef, the Rema, the Maharshal and others. "All the geonim of his generation would send their questions to him." (The haskama of Baal ‘Pnei Yehoshua’ for this sefer, Fürth edition).
He wandered extensively during his life, studying at first in Salonika and then becoming a Dayan in Egypt during the period of the Radbaz and Rabbi Betzalel Ashkenazi. At the end of his life, he was Rosh Yeshiva in Kracow, where he died.
When he was forced to flee Egypt, he reached the city of Famagusta, Cyprus, until he was rescued by the minister Don Yosef Nasi, who used his connections with the authorities in Venice, to bring him to Italy (see author’s introduction).
In the same year, a second edition was printed in Cremona. For the changes see M. Benyahu, The Hebrew Press in Cremona, Jerusalem 1971, pp. 233-234.
Cremona, 1576. First edition.
Page Count: 83 leaves.
Size: 20 cm.
Condition: Good; restorations on the title page, with no damage to text. New leather binding.
On the page before the title page is a poem in honor of a wedding, in Italian handwriting.
Bibliography: Stefansky, Sifrei Yesod #16
