Manuscript, Commentary on the Laws of Shechita, with Excerpts from the Commentary on Chulin by "Rabbi Dosa" and ...

Manuscript, Commentary on the Laws of Shechita, with Excerpts from the Commentary on Chulin by "Rabbi Dosa" and Novellae from "Rabbi Moshe Pleyer" – Yemen, 19th Century

Manuscript, Mishneh Torah by the Rambam – Laws of Shechita, with a commentary compiled from Rishonim and Acharonim, by an unknown author. [Yemen, ca. 19th century].
Yemenite script. The text of the Rambam's work is written in the center of the pages, surrounded by the commentary (in smaller letters).
The present work is found in several Yemenite manuscripts (such as MS. Oxford 2658, Bar-Ilan MS. 235, Schocken Institute MS. 2070, Tobi MS. 103), and is imbued with much material from the teachings of Ashkenazi sages. The work includes extensive excerpts from the writings of the Rishonim, such as the Ba'al HaTurim, Agur, Mordechai, Kol Bo, and others.
Among other things, it preserves passages from an unknown commentary on Tractate Chulin by "Rabbi Dosa", sometimes called "Ner Yisrael", as well as novellae in the name of "Rabbi Moshe Pleyer".

Rabbi Moshe Pleyer (also mentioned in other sources as Moshe Puler, Moshe Polia, Moshe MiPol and Moshe MiPolin) was a Polish Torah scholar of the 14th century (see: Israel M. Ta-Shma, New Material for the History of the Jews in Poland, Zion, 53, 1988, pp. 359-361 Hebrew]). To the best of our knowledge, his novellae on the laws of shechita are preserved – aside from the work before us – only in one manuscript – Paris MS. H 166 A, written by Rabbi Binyamin Mutal in 1587. The present Yemenite work is therefore one of the few sources in which his teachings were preserved.

The glosses from the "Commentary on Chulin by Rabbi Dosa", which appear here many times (leaves 3a, 5b, 6a-b, 7a-b, 10b, 11a-b, 12a, 16b, 41a, 42a), are known to be extant only in the present work. Regarding the identity of Rabbi Dosa, opinions are divided – according to Prof. Joseph Tobi, it refers to Rav Dosa son of Rav Saadiah Gaon (Joseph Tobi, Yemenite Jewish Manuscripts in the Ben-Zvi Institute, MS. 121, pp. 62-63 (Hebrew); on Rav Dosa son of Rav Saadiah Gaon, see: Poznański, Rav Dosa Gaon, Bardychów, 1906), while Prof. Israel Ta-Shma argued that it refers to Greek Rabbi Dosa (Rav Dossa HaYevani), also from the 14th century, a Torah scholar born and raised in Vidin, Bulgaria (see below), who studied under the great Torah scholars of Ashkenaz – the Maharash and Rabbi Shalom of Neustadt, teachers of the Maharil (from Rabbi Dosa the Greek a commentary on the Torah is known, printed by Prof. Shlomo Spitzer, at the end of the work Hilchot UMinhagei Rabbenu Shalom MiNeustadt, Jerusalem 1997; for more about him, see introduction there).
The present also contains teachings of later Torah scholars (up to the early 18th century, an indication to the time of compilation, see: Tobi, ibid.). The compiler also added from the teachings of Yemenite sages, such as Rabbi Shalom Shabazi (leaf 51a), Rabbi Yitzchak Vana (44b), and R. David ibn Yahya (leaf 35).
It includes several notes the compiler, such as in leaf 30b: "And I found a handwritten [note] by the Rabbi Abraham ben Abraham Z"L..."; on leaf 36a: "And this I found in a handwritten volume..."
Prof. Ta-Shma associates this work with the work of Rabbi Binyamin Mutal in the aforementioned Paris MS. (see: Ta-Shma, New Material for the History of the Jews in Poland, Zion, 54, [1989], pp. 205-208) and further argued that the aforementioned novellae of Rabbi Pleyer were preserved within the commentary on Chulin by Rabbi Dosa. In fact, the Yemenite work and the work of Rabbi Binyamin Muttal are not identical, and Ta-Shma's conjectures require further examination.
At the beginning of the manuscript, appears a fragment of a page with the beginning of a similar commentary on the Shulchan Aruch, Laws of Shechita (incomplete), an additional inscription of a fragment on the laws of Treifot – in the front endpaper.

61 leaves. 24 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, including dark stains. Some wear and tears. Worming, with minor damage to text. Old leather binding, damaged.

PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.