A new volume of Yad David, novellae on the Talmud by Rabbi Joseph David Sinzheim, came off the press in Jerusalem some time ago. Rabbi Sinzheim was, in his time, one of the best-known rabbis of Western Europe. He was rabbi of Strasbourg, president of Napoleon’s Sanhedrin, and the first chief rabbi of the Central French Consistory (Consistoire) the central organization of French Jewry established in 1808.
Rabbi Sinzheim wrote novellae on the entire Talmud, but only part of them – Yad David on Tractate Berachot and the Order of Mo’ed (Offenbach, 1799)– were printed during his life time. The greater part of his novellae remained in maunscripts. In the 1970s, after great efforts to locate Rabbi Sinzheim’s manuscripts, Machon Yerushalayim embarked on the publication of Yad David and others of his writings. The volumes published thus far have been well received in the Torah world. Several volumes have gone through a second printing. The latest volume, the twelfth, contains Rabbi Sinzheim’s novellae on Tractate Sanhedrin, Shevuot, Makkot and Horayot.
This is the second printing of the novellae on Tractate Sanhedrin. They were first printed by Machon Yerusahalyim in 1977, in a separate volume sponsored by French rabbis in memory of the late Rabbi Yitzhak (Henri) Schilli, a leader of French Jewry who for 25 years served as director of France’s Rabbinical Seminary in Paris. He died in 1975 at the age of 69. The volume carries an article about Rabbi Schilli’s life activities by Rabbi Jacob Kaplan the (now deceased) Chief Rabbi of France.
In his article about Rabbi Schilli, Rabbi Kaplan relates that during World War II, when the Vichy authorities were handing over Jews to the Germans for deportation, Rabbi Schilli would go to the camps where these Jews were concentrated. Regardless of the great danger to his own life, he would spend with them the final hours before their deportation, praying for and with them, and strengthening them in their faith.
The novellae published in the latest Yad David volume were prepared for print by Rabbi Pesach Y. Yavrov, Rabbi A. Kabalkin, Rabbi Shemuel Nathan, Rabbi Nissan Shub, Rabbi Chaim Eisenstein, and Rabbi Joseph Buxbaum.
In the introduction to an earlier volume of Rabbi Sinzheim’s writings (Minchat Ani— Topics and Sugyot arranged in the Order of the Alef Beth; edited by Rabbi Shmuel Akiva Schleisinger, first edition, 1974, second edition, 1984) we are informed that Machon Yerushalayim was particularly pleased to publish Rabbi Sinzheim’s novellae because his method of presentation paved the way for Machon Yerushalayim’s Otzar Meforshei HaTalmud. “In his writings on the Talmud, he (Rabbi Sinzheim) quotes hundreds of books, including some which unfortunately were lost and we know about them only from his quotations,” we read in the introduction.”
At the end of the latest Yad David volume there is a list of about 400 books by Rishonim and Achronim (early and later Halachik authorities) which Rabbi Sinzheim quotes or refers to in the novellae included in that volume alone!
Over the years, the scholars of Machon Yerusahalyim have continued their search for manuscripts of Rabbi Sinzheim. In the preface to the aforementioned Yad David volume, they inform us that they are now in possession of manuscripts of Yad David on all the tractates of the Talmud; additional volumes of Minchat Ani; two volumes of Shelal David, which contain explanations, comments and derashot on the Torah and the festivals; a book of responsa and decisions; and a work called Da’at David – explanations, novellae, notes and clarifications on the Shulchan Aurch. Those on Yoreh De’ah have already been included in Machon Yerushalayim’s Shulchan Aruch HaShalem. Those relating to Choshen Mishpat will appear in forthcoming volumes of that work.
Notes by Rabbi Sinzheim on several books by Rishonim were also discovered. Rabbi Sinzheim’s notes on Rabbi Yerucham’s Toledot Adam VeChavah were printed in Moriah.
The notes on the other books will be printed when new editions of these books are published , or will be included in one of Rabbi Sinzheim’s works.
(To be continued)
The Jewish Press, Friday, Nov.15, 2002
One of Rabbi Joseph David Sinzheim’s descendants, Rabbi Raphael Nathan Auerbach of Jerusalem, has written a comprehensive biography of his ancestor.
It is included in Rabbi Joseph David Sinzheim’s Minchat Ani, which was printed for the first time by Machon Yerusahlayim in 1974, as stated in our first article.
Minchat Ani contains – as mentioned earlier –“Topics and Sugyyot (of the Talmud) arranged in the order of the Alef Beth.” It also includes a treatise called Sheva Chakirot (“Seven Enquiries”) which consists of Rabbi Sinzheim’s correspondence with Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Spitz who had submitted to him seven enquiries. Rabbi Spitz, a native of Pressburg, was a fine rabbinic scholar, a linguist and an author who, in 1767 established with his son Avraham a Hebrew printing press in Offenbach Germany. The printing press was active for many years. Rabbi Sinzheim’s Yad David (on Tractate Berachot and on the Order of Mo’ed), the only work of his to appear in print during his life, was printed at Rabbi Spitz’s press.
Rabbi Sinzheim was a descendant of Rabbi Chaim Ben R. Betzalel, the older brother of the Maharal of Prague who served as rabbi of Worms and Friedberg and authored a variety of works, including a supercommentary on Rashi’s Torah commentary and Vikuach Mayim Chaim, a critique of Rabbi Moshe Isserles’ Torat Chattat.
Rabbi Sinzheim was born in 1745 in Trier, Germany where he studied Torah with his father, Rabbi Yitzhak, the Jewish community’s rabbi, until his marriage a the age of 20. By that time he had studied the entire Talmud, with the exception of the Order of Kodshim, as well as Tur Orach Chayim, Tur Yoreh De’ah and a large part of Tur Choshen Mishpat. Rabbi Yitzchak Sinzheim was a well-known rabbinic scholar who served as rabbi in Trier and and, many years later, as rabbi of the Jewish community of Niedernai in Alsace.
After his marriage, Rabbi Joseph David Sinzheim continued to devote himself to the study of the Torah. His father -in-law Todros (Theodor) Ber of Medelsheim, Alsace and his brother-in-law, Naftali Herz Cerfberr, a rich businessman, philanthropist and Alsatian-Jewish communal leader, took care of the needs of Rabbi Joseph David Sinzheim and his family.
When he was about 30 years of age, he began a large work on the Shulchan Aurch, adding comments and source references to Rabbi Chaim Benveniste’s Knesset HaGedolah, and to Rabbi Aaron Alfandri’s Yad Aharon. He notes that he collected comments from no less than 300 works.
In 1778, Rabbi Sinzheim’s brother-in-law Naftali Herz Cerfberr established a Yeshiva in Bischheim, near Strasbourg and appointed him Rosh Yeshiva. The Yeshiva remained in Bischheim until 1792 when political riots forced it to move to Strasbourg. Before long, Rabbi Sinzheim was compelled to leave that city too. In 1793-1794, the French revolutionary government instituted the worship of the “religion of reason” and began persecuting Catholicism and its institution. Though the revolutionary government did not officially persecute Judaism, the anti-religious decrees were also applied against Judaism and its adherents by the provincial officials who were for the most part anti-Semites. Jewish religious ceremonies were forbidden. Torah scrolls and Hebrew books were burned and rabbis were harassed. Rabbi Sinzhiem left Stasbourg to escape imprisonment and possibly death. Before leaving the city he succeeded in hiding his books. During his long wanderings from place to place he was therefore without any books and could not engage in the study of Torah. He vowed then that if the L-rd restored him to his home and books, he would, for the benefit of his Torah students, prints his writings on the Shulchan Aruch and his novellae on the Talmud (he had begun to write the latter when he was teaching at the Yeshiva in Bischheim).
Following changes in the revolutionary regime, Rabbi Sinzheim returned to Strasbourg. The local Jewish community appointed him as their Chief Rabbi. He served in this capacity together with his nephew and son-in-law, Rabbi Avraham Auerbach.
Soon after his return to Strasbourg, he began to prepare his writings for print. The first volume of Yad David appeared in 1799.
(To be continued)
Jewish Press, November 22, 2002
Rabbi Avraham Auerbach, nephew and son-in-law of Rabbi J. D. SInzheim, was born in Bouxeiller, Alsace where his father, Rabbi Aviezri Auerback, was rabbi. Rabbi Aviezri Auerback’s father, Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Auerback, was rabbi of Worms.
Rabbi Avraham Auerbach studied with his grandfather, Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Auerbach in Worms and after the latter’s death, continued his studies with Rabbi Nathan Adler in Frankfurt. In the 1790’s he opened a tobacco factory in Strasbourg. The leaders of the local Jewish community, cognizant of Rabbi Auerbach’s great knowledge in all fields of Torah, asked him to serve together with his uncle and father-in-law as their rabbi. Rabbi Avraham Auerbach was also a mohel, and during the revolutionary regime, when Robespierre forbade all religious ceremonies, he risked his life to fulfill the commandment of circumcision. Following his service in Strasbourg, he officiated as rabbi in various localities in Alsace and the Rhineland: Forbach, Koblenz, Cologne, Neuwied and Bonn. One of his sons was Rabbi Zvi Benjamin Auerbach, rabbi of Halberstadt, whose publications include the 12th century Halakhic work Sefer HaEshkol by Rabbi Avraham ben R. Yitzhak of Narbonne, accompanied by a commentary called Nahal Eshkol.
In 1806 Napoleon convened in Paris an Assembly of Jewish Notables — rabbis and Jewish communal leaders from all the territories of the French empire and the “Kingdom of Italy” — for the purpose of clarifying the status of the Jews in the Napoleonic state to establish whether, while loyal to their faith, its precepts and traditions, Jews would be able to discharge to the full their duties and obligations as equal citizens.
The delegates of the Assembly were present by the French authorities with 12 questions among them: “Do Jews regard Frenchmen as their brothers or as strangers? Do Jews, natives of France consider that country as their homeland? Are they bound to defend it? Are they bound to obey its laws and to conform to its civil code?
A representative of Napoleon addressed the Assembly. He declared, inter alia: “His Highness, the Emperor wants you to be Frenchmen. It depends on you whether you will gain this appellation, or lose it if found unworthy of it. The questions addressed to you will now be read, and it is your duty to answer each of them truthfully.”
Rabbi J. David Sinzheim was one of the delegates to the Assembly. Widely respected for his great knowledge of Torah, the delegates chose him as head of the “Committee of Twelve,” entrusted with the formulation of the answers to be presented to the Emperor.
The answers submitted by the Assembly satisfied the emperor that the Jews could fulfill their obligations as citizens without giving up any principles of their faith and their traditions. However, Napoleon was not content with the answers as presented . He wanted the views embodied in the answers to be converted into doctrinal decisions which the Jews would be bound to observe religiously.
For this purpose he convened in 1807 a “Great Sanhedrin: which was composed of 71 members, two thirds of them rabbis and one third laymen. It was presided over by Rabbi J. David Sinzheim, The Sanhedrin issued nine regulations. One of them read: “The Jews of every country must treat its citizens as their own brothers according to the universalist rules of moral conduct, and Jews who have become citizens of a state must regard that country as their fatherland.”
Rabbi Sinzheim, who showed great flexibility in the formulation of the answer to the Emperor yet was extremely careful to avoid any infringement of the Halakha, was greatly praised for his role in the discussions of the Assembly and as President of the Sanhedrin. The following year (1808), when the Jewish community organizations in the Napoleonic lands were reorganized into consistories, he was chosen by the Central French Consistory as the Chief Rabbi of France and Italy. He served in this capacity until his death on the 6th of Kislev 5573 (1812), at the age of 68.
(To be continued)
The Jewish Press, Friday, November 29, 2002
After Rabbi Joseph David Sinzheim was chosen by the Central French Consistory to be the Chief Rabbi of the Empire of France and the Kingdom of Italy he handed over his position as Chief Rabbi of Strasbourg to Rabbi Yaakov Mayer who had also been a delegate to the Assembly of Jewish Notables and a member of Napoleon’s Great Sanhedrin.
Various Jewish communities of Central and Western Europe submitted Halakhic inquires to Rabbi Sinzheim, especially in the years when he was active in the Assembly of Jewish Notables and in the Great Sanhedrin, and served as chief rabbi of the French Empire and the Kingdom of Italy
In his detailed biography of Rabbi Sinzheim, Rabbi Nathan Raphael Auerbach acquaints us with some of the Halakhic queries submitted to Rabbi Sinzheim and with his decisions and rulings.
One inquiry addressed to Rabbi Sinzheim related to the sale of the synagogue of Griesheim, near Frankfort on the Main, after all the Jews had moved away from that village. Rabbi Sinzheim permitted the sale, noting that in his time the sale of synagogues was a frequent occurrence on account of Jews changing their place of residence. However, he advised the inquirer to use the proceeds from the sale of the synagogue to support another Jewish house of worship. Rabbi Sinzheim was also asked whether it was permitted to sell the Jewish cemetery of Griesheim. He ruled that it was permitted to sell the cemetery to Jews only, because only by selling it to Jews could they be certain that the cemetery would not be destroyed.
When the head of the Consistory of Kassel wanted to permit Ashkenazi Jews to eat Kitniyot (Legumes) on Passover (Sephardic Jews, but no Ashkenazic Jews are accustomed to eat Kitniyot on Passover) Rabbi Sinzheim and his colleagues opposed the suggestion and prohibited the use of Kitniyot on Passover.
During his service as Chief Rabbi of the French Empire and the Kingdom of Italy Rabbi Sinzheim resided in Paris. There he undertook the writing of a large Talmudic work, Minhat Ani, which consisted of several part. The first part was published form manuscript by Machon Yerushalayim in 1973 and was reprinted in 1984. In a statement at the beginning of the volume, penned in the summer of 1809, Rabbi Sinzheim explained why he called his work Minhat Ani (“A Poor Man’s Offering”). I named this treatise Minhat Ani because it was written here in Paris, in a state of dearth of Torah, cause by the absence of much needed books and by the lack of sufficient time for study, wince I was preoccupied with communal affairs.” Rabbi Sinzheim added that despite these impediments, he devoted all his free time to the study of the Torah. He implored the L-rd to reunite him with his home, which was filled with Sefarim. Then he would review all that that he had written in this treatise.
Rabbi Sinzheim was greatly respected by the Gedolei HaTorah of his time. He corresponded with the Hida, Rabbi Hayyim Yosef David Azulai (he also eulogized the Hida, mentioning in his speech 50 works by Azulai many of them in manuscripts, including some not known to us from other sources) and sent criticial notes To Rabbi Yehezekl Landau on Responsa Noda Biyehuda.
Rabbi Moshe Sofer, who in various places of his writings mentioned the segment of Yad David that was published during Rabbi Sinzheim’s life, eulogized the latter. He called him a Tzaddik who was very close to and greatly esteemed by the French Emperor and his ministers; a great Jew who, all his life, engaged in the study of the Torah, completed the Shas several times and knew by heart the works of the Rishonim and Aharonim (early and later authorities). “I knew him in my youth and later exchanged letters with him, from which I perceived his righteousness and integrity,” Rabbi Sofer declared.
An emotion packed eulogy for Rabbi Sinzheim was delivered by Rabbi Judah Loeb Carlburg in Krefeld, then in French occupied Germany. He called out “Who of you has not heard or known of the praise of Rabbi David Sinzheim? All of you know his great virtues and fine moral qualities. He was great in Torah. The entire Talmud, the commentaries and the Codes, all the responsa, the old ones and the new ones were inscribed on his heart. He feared the L-rd and did not deviate, even in ‘light’ commandments to the right or the left.”
Rabbi Carlburg was a student of Rabbi Nathan Adler of Frankfurt on the Main. He was a valiant fighter against Reform Judaism. His eulogy for Rabbi Sinzheim has been preserved in manuscript in the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem. It was first printed in Rabbi Sinzheim’s Minhat Ani, published by Machon Yerusalayim.
The Jewish Press, Friday, December 6, 2002