Obj. ID: 38153
Jewish printed books Or Chadash by Chaim ben Binyamin Zeev Buchner, Amsterdam, 1671
This text was prepared by William Gross:
Or Chadash, on Birkot HaNehenin and Birkot HaMitzvot, halacha and kabbalah. Rabbi Chaim Buchner. Amsterdam, [1671-1675]. A book with many approbations [24, including the approbation of Rabbi Yom Tov Lipman author of Tosfot Yom Tov, Rabbi Gershon Ashkenasi author of Avodat HaGershuni, Rabbi Ya'akov Sasportash, Rabbi Yitzchak Abuhav etc.].
A concise and abridged form on the laws of benedictions by R. Hayyim ben Benjamin Ze’ev Bochner (c. 1610 – 1684). The text includes all of the birkat ha-mitzvot and birkat ha-nehenim, excepting those pertaining to prayer. In addition to blessings over food, there are benedictions for a tallit katan, tefillin, tallit gadol, fixing a mezuzah, lulav, Haukkah lights, dam betulah, sanctification of God’s name, visiting the ill, comforting mourners, and accompanying a body to its burial.
The title page shows an elaborate woodcut architectural frame topped by an eagle. Some tail-pieces bear the Levi emblem of the printer. There are several attractive woodcut tail-pieces, among them one, appearing several times, with a hand pouring water from a laver and two fish on each side, all symbols of a Levi, which here refer to the printer Uri Fayvesh.
The title page is dated 1671; the colophon is dated 1675. It has been suggested that this second date is a type-setter’s error and should read 1671, which would not only be consistent with the title page, but also with the dates of the approbations, which were given in 1671 or earlier.
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.