How the Chief Rabbi of Vilna Ended up in Amsterdam

00:40 We have mentioned in the last short lecture that after the Gezeiras Seifa SeTalmud in Italy in the year of Shin Yud Giem, 1553, for twenty-five years there was no Chas printed. In Italy they burned all the Talmud. In Spain and Portugal they expelled all the Jews and they burned all their Seferim. And in the other countries, if they had a print house, it wasn't that large to easily print a Chas. Till twenty-five later, they started printing a Chas in Basel in the year of Shin Lamet Ches, 1578. And since then, they have published Chas in several countries. But the main Chas that is worth to know this is the Chas that was published in the city of Amsterdam in Holland. Holland was a free country, and so Amsterdam. So many Jews settled there in those days of persecution. And they opened several print houses in this city on a large scale. And slowly this became the main print house for Jewish Seferim for the whole Europe. One of the owners of the print house was Emanuel Ben Benishti. He printed a Chas in the years of Tov Dalet till Tov Ches, 1544 till 1644 till 1648. It was a very special Chas. He invested a lot in the quality of the Chas. In the quality means to be Magia. There should not be any errors. It's a big deal in those days. In those days they would print from metal letters getting together in the order of a page and of a Gillian. After they

03:30 finish setting this Gillian, it goes on press. Between when they finish setting this Gillian and until it goes to press, they have a day to be Magia to see if there are any errors in these pages. It's very hard to rely on that. But he invested more and he hired very qualified Magim. And he would not put the Gillian on press till it's Mugia. In the meantime he would prepare other Gillianes or other Seferim. So this became the most Mugidike Chas with the least errors. In addition to that, the previous generation lived the Maharshal. One of his Seferim the Maharshal did was Chochmat Shleime which is Hagores and the Talmud. That includes also he went through the whole Chas and was Magiait and every time that he found an error in that Chas that was already printed, he would write a correction in the Lucha Tikun in the Chochmat Shleime. When Emanuel Ben Benishti started printing the Chas, he set down a group of qualified Magim that would include all his corrections into the Talmud that he is publishing. This was the most Mugidike Chas until that day and also for the next 150 years. About 150 years later in Tov Kuv Samach, the year of 1800, the Alte Rebbe published the Chas as we will discuss in the next short lecture. And when he gave the orders to the printer, he told him set the Chas according to the edition of Amsterdam because this is the most Mugidike correct. Version of the Shas without

06:12 too many errors. After the Shas was published, there was another print house opening in Amsterdam by Joseph Etias. He didn't have to print the Shas that was already published. He printed the Shulchan Aruch. But in printing the Shulchan Aruch, he also invested a lot on the Hagahot. He hired for as a magiya, the chief rabbi of the city of Vilna in Lithuania. Chief Rabbi of Vilna came to Amsterdam to work as a magiya in the print house of Joseph Etias? Yes. And the reason is because in that day started the prosecution and killing of Jews by the army of Khmelnytsky, which is knows- known as Gzeiras Tach ve Tat. It started in the year sixteen forty-eight. Over the years, next couple of years, they killed in Poland, Ukraine, and Lithuania close to fifty thousand Jews. Many of the Jews of those places ran away, fled to safe countries. The chief Rabbi of Vilna, Rabbi Moshe, fled to Amsterdam. And when he came there, Joseph Etias offered him a job to stay as a magiya on the Shulchan Aruch that he is publishing now. It wasn't only magiya, shouldn't be errors in the printing. It was much more than that. He added Maharam Alshech's Tsiyyunim on each halakha of the Shulchan Aruch that he was in charge of the Hagahot. These Maharam Alshech's are called Be'er Hagolah. It's the Maharam Alshech's that are published in all the prints of the Shulchan Aruch since then and on. This Shulchan Aruch didn't have any meforshim. The Shaar HaKol

08:54 and Magneh Avot and others was added later. Here it was only the Shulchan Aruch itself and the Rama. But he added on the side, on the margin, the Be'er Hagolah, which is the sources for each one of the halakhas that the Beis Yosef is writing. Where did he take all these sources to add them so fast? It's because the Baal HaShulchan Aruch, Rabbi Yosef Karo, before he printed the Shulchan Aruch, he printed the Beis Yosef, which is a birur and tur. But over there he discusses all details of halakhas that he find in, he found in manuscript form. Then according to that, he edited and published the Sefer of Shulchan Aruch. So Rabbi Moshe, the ro- the chief Rabbi of Vilna, learned the Shulchan Aruch with the Beis Yosef. In the Beis Yosef, he found the sources where the Beis, Shulchan Aruch took each halakha, and he added it on the margin of the page. With so much investing in this form, in the Yiddish form that was published then in Amsterdam, it became, in that generation, the main source for Yiddish form printed for the whole Europe.