Obj. ID: 35349
Jewish printed books Ketoret ha-Mizbe'ah, Amsterdam, 1660
The following description was prepared by William Gross:
On the aggadic portions of tractate Berakhot dealing with the destruction of the Temple and the length of the exile, by R. Mordechai b. Naphtali Hirsch of Kremsier (d.1670).
Ornate arabesque title-page, including the first use of Uri Phoebus' printer's mark, the hand of the Levite pouring water into a basin.
R. Mordechai, a leading darshan, was from Kremsier but resided in Cracow. He was a student of, and personally close to, R. Shabbetai Sheftel Horowitz (author of Shefa Tal). This is the only edition of Ketoret ha-Mizbe'ah.
Uri Fayvesh (Phoebus) b. Aaron Witmund ha-Levi opened his own print-shop in Amsterdam in 1658, having worked previously for Immanuel Benveniste. He would print about 100 titles during the years he was active in Amsterdam (1658-1689). Towards the end of this period Phoebus became embroiled in a now-famous controversy with the Athias press over the printing of a Yiddish edition of the Bible. The dispute brought both printers to financial ruin.
In 1689 Phoebus relocated to Poland, hoping to benefit from the smaller number of competitors and the closer proximity to the Jewish communities that comprised a major market for the Amsterdam Hebrew presses. He established a press in Zolkiew in 1691. His descendants continued to operate Hebrew printing-presses in Poland into the twentieth century.