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12 Tishrei 5761 - October 11, 2000 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Toras Nozir -- A Treasury Of Peirushim On Masechta Nozir

"How good is something in the right season" said Shlomo Hamelech. Timely indeed is Machon Harry Fischel's new publication Toras Nozir that came off the presses only recently, just in time for the Daf Yomi's study of Maseches Nozir.

Toras Nozir is a compendium of peirushim on `Masechta Nozir, a tractate on which, for various reasons, there is a paucity of `peirushim available. First and foremost, the peirush of Rashi is missing on this masechta. The peirush of Tosafos, though extant, is full of errors that crept in over years of copying.

The "Treasury" on Nozir unlocks three important seforim for us. The first is the "Shitta Mekubetzes" (or "Asseifas Zekeinim") by Rabbenu Betzalel Ashkenazi, a work originally printed in Livorno in 1774, which assembles a selection of peirushim and explanatory notes for this masechta from books of a number of Rishonim. The original work was reprinted in Dubno in 1800, in Offen in 1821, and in Warsaw in 1879, and in almost all the editions, mistakes and printing errors crept in, making the urgent need for a newly edited and annotated edition obvious to the reader.

This challenge was undertaken by the heads of Machon Harry Fischel. One of its foremost scholars, HaGaon Rabbi Asher Zonnenfeld, devoted years to this holy project, and edited the Shitta Mekubetzes anew, based on an original manuscript preserved in one of the famous libraries. He restored the precise, original language of the text, cleaned out the dross, and embellished the basic text with Torah insights, exact sources and important notes, including parallels and contrasts, rendering the Shitta Mekubetzes a finely edited text that can illuminate the eyes of anyone learning Maseches Nozir.

The second sefer is Orach Mishor on Maseches Nozir, written by the outstanding dayan and great Torah luminary, HaRav Yochanan Kremnitzer, zt"l, who served as dayan in Mezeritch some 300 years ago. (Rabbi Yochanan, who also merited to print the Darchei Moshe of the R"ma on Yoreh De'ah, with his comments, was the student of Rabbi Dovid Oppenheim, rav of Nikolsburg and a Torah giant of his time.) The sefer was included in the past as an addendum to the Shas Vilna, but was printed in tiny letters and without division into paragraphs, making it extremely difficult to use, so that despite its illuminating words, few scholars studied it. Furthermore, when it was printed as an addendum, neither the author's introduction nor the haskomos of the gedolim of his time appeared with it.

In the current edition, also edited by HaRav Zonnenfeld, the text of the "Orach Mishor" is given a new look. Everything is reprinted clearly, with appropriate division into paragraphs. The proofreading was done against the original printing of the manuscript in Berlin in 1723, with the errors appearing in later editions expertly sifted out. This is one of the few works that discusses every page of the masechta according to the pshat with thorough analysis, clarifying each section and every phrase and leaving no subject hazy.

The third sefer is Orach Mishor on the Rambam, Hilchos Nezirus, which was last printed 130 years ago together with Orach Mishor on maseches Nozir, and was omitted entirely from the Shas Vilna, so that it was almost forgotten, very few scholars having access to it. The editor, HaRav Zonnenfeld, went through the work painstakingly, in order to produce a new edition in proper form and of maximum quality. Thus, he ha succeeded in offering the world of Torah literally a "treasure", which will bring them much benefit in the study of maseches Nozir.

Credit is due to the heads of Machon Harry Fischel, located in an historic building in the Bucharian neighborhood of Jerusalem for almost seventy years, for having initiated and carried through the publication of this important book, a one more link in the chain of the Machon's successful projects, including both the training of rabbonim and dayanim and the printing of manuscripts, texts of the Rishonim, and monumental works on subjects of higher Torah learning.

 

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