Obj. ID: 35463  Yafe Toar Bereshit by Shmuel ben Yitzhak Jaffe, Fürth, 1692

This text was prepared by William Gross:

Yefe Toar, on Midrash Raba – Bereshit, by Rabbi Shmuel Yaffe Ashkenazi. Furth, [1692]. Two title pages, the first is illustrated. A popular and much printed interpretation of Midrash Rabbah, first published in Venice, 1597. This particular volume is for Bereshit.
Ornate title page with architectural frame showing Moses and Aaron on either side, and pastoral scenes above and below.
R. Samuel Jaffe, whose father was a businessman and resident in Bursa, Turkey, came to Constantinople to study under R. Isaac ibn Lev. In 1564, R. Jaffe became rabbi of the Ashkenazi community of Constantinople and Rosh Yeshiva. In the former capacity he delivered sermons based on aggadot and Midrashim, the source of his works on Midrashim. He was in Adrianople from 1580-1584, apparently due to a libel against him in Constantinople.
Two Hebrew presses were established in Fuerth in 1691: the first by Joseph b. Solomon Zalman Schneur, and the second by the printer of this volume, Zvi Hirsch b. Joseph ha-Levi. Ha-Levi's press, which was located in his home, issued only one volume in 1691. During his years of printing, 1691-1699, he issued less than ten works.
Original tooled leather binding
[1], 540 leaves