For about 200 years- from the third quarter of the 15th century until the dissolution of the “Council of the Four Lands” in 1765– the same tractate of Talmud was studied simultaneously at all the Yeshivot of Poland.
Printers and authors timed the publication of individual tractates of the Talmud and of commentaries and novellae thereon to correspond to the study of these Maskehtot at the Yeshivot.
Nowadays, the Daf Yomi has given rise to a similar phenomenon. Publishers and authors plan the publication of Talmudic tractates and their commentaries to coincide with the time they are studied by the Daf Yomi students.
In time for the forthcoming beginning of the study of Yerushalmi Shekalim by the Daf Yomi students, Feldheim has published a new commentary on that tractate by Rabbi Jacob Wehl.
This is not the first commentary to have been especially written for the Daf Yomi. Twenty seven years ago, Rabbi Yosef Zvi Aronson of New York published a commentary on Shekalim, designed for Daf Yomi students. The commentary called Shiklei Yosef (printed with the text and supplemented by additional explanations and novellae at the end of the tractate) was reprinted at least twice.
Rabbi Wehl’s new commentary consists of two parts. The commentary proper, called Ikvei Aharon, accompanying the text of the Yerushalmi, whose pagination corresponds to that of the standard Vilna Talmud edition.
Ikvei Aharon is based on a variety of exegetical sources, notably the standard commentaries on the tractate, other- early and later – commentaries on Mishna Shekalim and commentaries on parallel and related passages in the Babylonia Talmud. In writing Ikvei Aharon, Rabbi Wehl followed the example of some authorities who incorporated into their commentaries not only the explanations and view of their predecessors, but to a certain extent, also the very language of their sources.
The second part of the commentary, called Pesher Davar and printed at the end of the tractate includes additional and alternate explanations, elucidations of the views of commentators and discussions of textual readings, especially those of the Gaon of Vilna.
Rabbi Wehl, a well known scholar and educator who had taught the Daf Yomi for almost twenty years, set himself the task of facilitating the study of Yerushalmi Shekalim. He has accomplished this in an admirable manner. He familiarized the newcomer in the Yerushalmi with the terminology of that Talmud and offers a thorough but easy to understand explanation of the text, quoting at times more than one interpretation. The commentary reflects the author’s great dedication and extraordinary erudition even in the difficult areas of Kodashim and Toharot.
Ikvei Aharon is named for the author’s late father Aharon, who back in Hamburg attended shiurim given by the late Rabbi Shmuel Yosef Rabinov.
Rabbi Rabinov, who was a student of the Chofetz Chaim, served in Hamburg and later in Antwerp. After the German invasion of Belgium in the spring of 1940 he escaped to London where he was chosen rabbi of a large congregation. I was privileged to know him. He was great in Torah and great in middot and an inspiring speaker.
Pesher Davar is named for Rabbi Wehl’s mother Frumet Sarah (the Hebrew initials of the name Peh, Shin, Resh, for the word Pesher), who was known throughout Boro Park as the dedicated physician, Dr. Selma Wehl.
An additional feature Yad Meir, a detailed index of the sources of the short commentary, is printed after Pesher Davar. It is named for the author’s son Yehuda Dov who died in infancy and for an uncle, Meir, who helped the author’s parents leave Nazi Germany for the U.S.
Rabbi Wehl has included in his volume a report of tractate Shekalim of the Vilna Bavli edition with its commentaries. This would seem a gesture of humility on the part of the author. He appears to be saying to us, ” I present you with my commentary, which will facilitate your study but it is not my intention at all to replace the commentaries of old.”
Conclusion next week
The Jewish Press, Friday, June 28, 1991
(conclusion)
In last week’s article, I drew attention to Rabbi Jacob Wehl’s new and excellent commentary on the Jerusalem Talmud tractate of Shekalim.
Following are some minor notes:
In Pesher Davar (6b) Rabbi Wehl writes: Though our text reads Abba bar Ba, all commentators explain and read as if it were written Abba bar Abba, who was the father of Shemuel.
The commentator might have added: This indeed, is the style of the Yerushalmi to write Ba instead of Abba, Liezer instead of Eliezer, etc. Shemuel’s father is mentioned several times in the Yerushalmi. Occasionaly his name is written Abba bar Abba- more often – Abba Bar Ba. He is also called Father of Shemuel.”(See Yoef Umanski’s book about the sages of the Yerushalmi, Jerusalem, 1952, p. 6).
On 8a the text says that Rabbi Yonah after drinking the four cups on Passover felt sick, Ad Hagga.
The commentator, following Korban HaEdah, renders “Ad Hagga”- until Shavuot.
Hag or Hagga in the language of the sages refers generally to Sukkot.
Here, however, the translation “until Shavuot” happens to be correct– not because Hag denotes at times Shavuot (Mishna Teruma 3:1, Gemara and Tosefot Yom Tov ibid,- but because the text of the Yerushalmi is defective. In the statement about Rabbi Yonah it should read Ad Atzarta (until Shavuot) instead of “Ad Hagga.”
Consulting the parallel passages in Yerushalmi Shabbat 8:1 and Pesachim 10:1 the student will find the following text.
Rabbi Yonah after drinking the four cups… felt sick. Ad Atzarta (until Shavuot).
Rabbi Yuda bar Rabbi Elai, after drinking the four cups… felt sick “Ad Hagga” (until Sukkot).
This is followed by a story about a Roman matron, who “saw him”..(from the context it is clear that “him” is Rabbi Yudah bar R. Ilai).
The text in Yerushalmi Shekalim is a hybrid version of both statements, the statement about Rabbi Yonah and the statement about Rabbi Yudah bar R. It is the result of an error by the scribe who jumped from the first statement to similar words in the second.
From the parallels in the Yerushalmi and from other parallels it is clear that the Roman matron conversed with Rabbi Yudah bar R. Ilai, and not with Rabbi Yonah, as it would seem from the text in Shekalim.
The defectiveness of this passage in Yerushalmi Shekalim is attested not only by the parallel passages in Yerushalmi Shabbat and Pesahim, but also by the commentaries of Meiri and R. Shlomo Sirillo, who had the correct text before them.
On page 17a the commentator was misled by Korban HaEdah, who wrote that Calabria is in France. It is in Italy.
On 20a a story is told about some wineskins which were swept away by a river. The commentator cites two explanations. The first one, which is offered by earlier and later commentators and which identifies the river as the Ginai is the right one. The other explanation does not fit the text and need not have been mentioned.
The above notes have been penned in appreciation of Rabbi Wehl’s work. His comprehensive, yet lucid commentary will be of great help to Daf Yomi students as well as to others and will, no doubt encourage many to immerse themselves in the study of the Yerushalmi. All lovers of Torah will feel greatly indebted to Rabbi Wehl.
English Translation of Tractate Shekalim
A fortnight ago an English translation of Yerushalmi Shekalim accompanied by an English commentary, was published in New York. Both the translation and the commentary, are the work of Rabbi Yaakov Shulman. A review of the new volume will appear next week in this column.
Friday, July 5, 1991
Continued from last week
Rabbi Yaakov Shulman explains in the preface to the new volume in frontt of us that since no work in English on the Gemara portion of Shekalim was available, he undertook to prepare an English translation and commentary on the Jerusalem Talmud of that t actate to assisy the many loyal followers of the Daf Yomi who struggle daily to understand the Gemara.
Translating and writng a commentary are two different cofused taks.