Leḥem Yehudah (The Bread of Judah): On the Fate of the First Edition

Born in Córdoba, Spain, Moses ben Maymūn (Abū ʿImran Mūsā ibn Maymūn ibn ʿUbayd Allāh; Moses Maimonides) was a scion of a rabbinic family and the proud heir to the Sephardic tradition of learning. After fleeing to Fez around the age of ten to escape Almohad persecutions in his homeland, he moved to Fustāt (Old Cairo), where he came to head the Jewish community and to serve as physician to the royal family. An active communal leader, Maimonides’ multifaceted contributions to Judeo-Arabic and Hebrew literature include the following: his Commentary on the Mishnah (1168), Book of the Commandments and the Mishneh Torah (both completed around 1178), Guide of the Perplexed (completed around 1190), numerous responsa, important topical essays, and a voluminous corpus of medical texts. His profound influence on virtually every subsequent Jewish thinker finds expression in the popular adage that compares Moses Maimonides to the biblical Moses himself: “From Moses to Moses there was none like Moses.”

Cornelio Adelkind was an Italian printer of German descent. Adelkind worked in Daniel Bomberg’s printing house in Venice and formed a close attachment to the Bomberg family (he named his son Daniel). Adelkind also on occasion worked for other Venetian printers, among them Dei Farri and Giustiniani. While working for Bomberg, he was involved in the printing of numerous books, among them editions of the Bible, prayer books, commentaries, and the Talmud. Adelkind moved to Sabbioneta in 1553, at the invitation of the printer Tobia Foà. There he supervised the printing of the Talmud. However, following the ban on publishing the Talmud, issued in 1553, only a few tractates were printed. Adelkind continued to work for Foà until 1555. Adelkind was also involved in printing Yiddish works, including the translation of the Psalms by Elye Bokher (Elijah ben Asher Levita). Some scholars have suggested that Adelkind converted to Christianity.

Judah Lerma, of Spanish origin, lived in Italy in the mid-sixteenth century. He wrote a philosophical commentary on Pirke Avot, 1,500 copies of which were printed in Venice in 1553. However, in that same year almost all copies were destroyed when the Talmud and other Jewish books were burned in Venice. Judah, who never held a rabbinic post, set about rewriting his work from memory. He later found one surviving copy in the possession of non-Jews and was able to acquire it. The second edition of the work, which exhibits significant differences, was printed in Sabbioneta in 1554. The commentary draws on the Talmud and midrash, as well as on the works of Maimonides, Joseph Albo, Isaac Abravanel, and Isaac Arama, and it also integrates the author’s original ideas. In addition, Judah composed a commentary on Job, which is mentioned in his commentary on m. Avot. Other fragments of his writings have survived in manuscripts.