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Talmud Yerushalmi, tractate Berachot, Vilna 1922 - Hundreds of Sharp Lengthy Glosses Hanwritten by the...

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Talmud Yerushalmi, tractate Berachot, Vilna 1922 – Hundreds of Sharp Lengthy Glosses Hanwritten by the Gaon Rabbi Raphael Gordon Av Beis Din of Voshlakov, author of Nachal edden – the Glosses were not printed.

On the leaves of this Yerushalmi, hundreds of lengthy scholarly glosses are written. The glosses indicate their writer’s vast knowledge of both Talmudim, but especially of the Yerushalmi. Some of the glosses are sharp and others are critical. The glosses refer not only to the Yerushalmi and its commentators but also to the lengthy introductory chapters of the publisher of the Rom printery (Shafan Hasofer). Thus, these glosses also indicate their writer’s vast knowledge of Jewish history and his bibliographic knowledge.

At the end of one of his glosses on the introductory chapters (p. 12) he signed his name: "By me Raphael Gordon the author of Sefer Nachal Eden".

The writer frequently intorduces the words of "Rabbeinu HaGra". On leaf 66a, there is a lengthy gloss referring to the Yerushalmi and HaGra on the Kushiya, ending with the words: "ובחנם גמגמו ונתלבטו בזה כל המפרשים, ובספר משבי"ח [=משבי"ח על ירושלמי ברכות, סט לואיס, תר"פ], ובמה שפי’ בזה הרב הג’ ר’ ירוחם דיסקין יעו"ש". On the introductory leaves to HaGras’s elucidation, Rabbi Raphael writes: "אנחנו יודעים הטעם שלא הדפיסו מדפיסי זיטאמיר את ביאור רבינו הגדול הגר"א ז"ל, וד"ל", implying he had some information on the subject. He also cites Rabbi Avraham, HaGra’s son, praising the commentary on Yerushalmi Zer’aim: "גם הרב הגאון וכו’ מוהר"ר אברהם ז"ל בנו של רבינו הגר"א ז"ל מפאר מאוד את פי’ הגר"א ז"ל לסדר זרעים ירושלמי, וכן במכתבו להגאון ר’ עקיבא איגר ז"ל […] מר"ח אלול תקנ"ט מפאר מאוד מאוד לפניו את פי’ רבינו הגדול הגר"א ז"ל לסדר זרעים ירושלמי… ". In another gloss, he refers to words of HaGra that he had seen in a manuscript.

Rabbi Raphael frequently attacks the editor and publisher of this edition of the Yerushalmi – Rabbi Shmuel Sheraga Feigenson [Shafan Hasofer] writing in one of the glosses that his words "מביא לידי גיחוך על המבקרים שאינם יודעים בין ימינם לשמאלם בתכלית הדבר, רק רואים הענ[י]נים בהשקפה שטחית ללא עמקות".

Please refer to Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of the great Gaon Rabbi Raphael Gordon Av Beis Din of Voshlakov.

Did Rabbi Raphael Gordon take part in the forgery of Yerushalmi Kodashim?

The affair of the forgery of Yerushalmi Kodashim by Shlomo Friedlander during the years 1906-1913 is well-known and here is not the place to go on at length about it. What matters is that Rabbi Raphael was of the leaders of those who defended the forged Yerushalmi. In 1909, in the Machzikei Hadat newspaper (issue 19 February 1909), Rabbi Raphael wrote a sharp article in defense of the forged Yerushalmi. To this article, the famed Gaon Rabbi Meir dan Plotzky, author of Kli Chemdah, responded in his renowned Kuntres Sha’alu Shlom Yerushalayim (Bilgoray, 1910), proving the forgery. The forger responded to this Kuntres with a Kuntres of his own titled Cherev Nokemet (printed under a pseudonym). At its end, he printed a Kuntres titled Klaya Orev by Rabbi Raphael against Rabbi Plotzky.

In light of Rabbi Raphael’s insistent defense of the forged Yerushalmi, Rabbi Plotzky suspected he was also involved in the forgery of the Yerushalmi. On the other hand, Rabbi Plotzky also wrote of Rabbi Raphael’s vast knowledge: "מוכרח הנני להגיד את אשר עם לבבי… כי הרב מווישולקאוו הוא חבר לאיש משחית ובעזרתו, שהוא באמת מצוין ברוח זכרון נפלא כאשר חקרתי ודרשתי אחריו ואחרי מהותו בכל העניינים" (Sha’alu Shlom Yerushalayim, p. 100). Recently, the scholar Rabbi Aviad Bartuv also claimed that Rabbi rapahel might have been involved in the forgery. According to Rabbi Bartuv, in the printed glosses of Rabbi Raphael on the Yerushalmi Megillah, he cites several times the Yerushalmi Menachot, which was not printed yet a copy of which was kept by Rabbi Aryeh Leib Foidrov. These quotations by Rabbi Raphael match the copy kept by Rabbi Aryeh Leib Foidrov. One cannot determine whether both copied from Friedlander or whether rabbi Rapahel’s manuscript was the source itself, as suspected by Rabbi Meir Dan Plotzky.

In one of the glosses appearing on this copy of the Yerushalmi, Rabbi Raphael explicitly discusses the authenticity of the Yerushalmi Kodashim.

Possibly, a study of these hundreds of glosses will help solve this mystery.

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