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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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