Shulchan Aruch, Part 4 – Choshen Mishpat, with Be'er HaGola by Rabbi Moshe Ravkash. Amsterdam, 1664.
First edition of the famous work by Rabbi Moshe Ravkash, "Be'er HaGola" which reveals the source of the laws and rulings in the Shulchan Aruch.
Rabbi Moshe Ravkash (1600-1684) a renowned Lithuanian Torah scholar, grandfather of the Vilna Gaon. Served as Rabbi of Vilna. In 1655, after Bohdan Khmelnytsky and his Cossacks ravaged Vilna, he escaped the city and reached Amsterdam and Rotterdam. There he was recognized by the Dutch printers Efraim Bo'ino and Ya'akov Castilo and they asked him to proofread the edition of the Shulchan Aruch they were about to publish. Rabbi Moshe's composition Be'er HaGola was attached to this edition printed between 1661-1664 and since then has become one of the most important commentaries on the Shulchan Aruch and is printed in every edition of the Shulchan Aruch until today.
486 leaves. 15 cm. Stains. Moth damage. Loose leaves. Leather binding, damages. Gilt impression of decorations and owner's name: "Refael Nissim Toronto", with the year"5630" [1870]. Later signature in pen.