עין יעקב (Well of Jacob — Aggadic Talmud, Vilna 1883)

Preface of the H.Y.Ḥ., of blessed memory Abbreviation for a title of respect, likely referring to the editor or a previous publisher.

The manager, the ḥesed loving-kindness of the Rabbi, the author of Ein Yaakov Well of Jacob, sought to bring merit to the many, and did not spare his hand from any part of Ein Yaakov and Ein Yisrael Well of Israel. He granted me the favor of adding annotations for five methods that were designated for printing in the new preface... the words of the commentators on the parts of the matter?... in the precise details, as we were favored by the Rabbi, of blessed memory, and by the words of the Tosafot medieval commentaries on the Talmud. They were like channels to the garden, to scatter the total of the parts, which is the number of Maor Einayim Illumination of the Eyes, for it is a perfect measure and not to be diminished. Ein Yaakov and Ein Yisrael shall walk together; in them is the support of the righteous. In my iniquities, I have been slighted, for the vision? is in the Ein Yaakov, as the Lord has commanded regarding them. May these words, which I have gathered, be named Ein Yisrael, so that one may call to me and show me favor before the Lord; the merit of the words of this book is my seal. Even though they have adjusted some matters of difficulty, I have seen with my own eyes the foundation of the house of the Lord... and may the Lord of Israel grant us merit to print and to arrange in a book, and may it be given with an iron pen for my heart and my honor. May the Lord reward me and add merit, to bring merit to me, to the people, and to all before the Lord, to do the work of the original: "עינ"ס" (likely an abbreviation for Ein Yaakov/Yisrael).

Preface of M.A.R.A., of blessed memory Abbreviation for a title of respect for a rabbi.

Our Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud—not other than my own paths, for the end of my life is to dwell upon them and to scrutinize them. For this reason, I have not brought the words of the commentators, but only those which are famous, according to the flow of the subject. Therefore, if you do not find the words of a commentator here, do not hold it against me, for I did not select them due to the pressure of the printing. Furthermore, because of the one who says (the Mishnah oral law), that which is not found in the Talmud in many places—I did not elaborate on it, but only clarified the places according to the subject. The remaining places, which I wrote in each place?, the interpretation and also many things in the Haggadot narrative sections of the Talmud that are touched upon, I wrote them there for my own life, to write also in my own ḥiddushei halakhot innovative legal insights from place to place, and to search for it in the legal novellae. And I said that because of the connection of the words, it may seem as if I am explaining simple words, or words that contradict the author's opinion, but this is the intent, so that you may understand and scrutinize it well when you see the statement. Also, in the words of the printers, look to the content of my intention. If there are words that are so simple, or not even written, look closely, for there may be a mistake in the printing. And so I have warned regarding the difficulties and the scrutiny from before, and in the matters that are according to the time and the place and the nature of the printing, the reader or the student who sees the laws, let him find there a complete mistake and confusion. If there is, let him whisper to me in truth, for in many of the new printings, there are many mistakes of this kind, in the writing and the language, etc. Also, grant me merit to say, "The teacher said this in the name of so-and-so," and conversely, "The name of that one," and they are the two students in the name of those—who is keeping the Talmud, or the authors of these? We have to protest and act against the owner of the printing that he should not change the names, but rather, let the name be as it is written. And there is a correction of the error in its place, and he shall place the shas the Six Orders of the Talmud from the generation as is proper. All this is for the life of my children and our people, to be aroused for the students of the laws, that they may know and understand all the things suitable for the laws... The remainder of the paragraph is a flowery Hebrew benediction for the reader's success and understanding.

Preface of the Sage, Author of the book Ein Yaakov

This is the portion of man, divine from above. Man is born for labor, in the labor of the written and oral Torah. And after my weariness, I had a period of renewal. I was a cornerstone, to inquire and to explore in wisdom, to fight the war of the Lord, a war of commandment, in the great verses and straight sayings according to the opinion and parts of his perception which he merited, and it was given to him from heaven. He merited for himself and caused others to merit with him. As the compilations increased, the early Amoraim Talmudic sages—of the rule that there is a final Amor Talmudic sage, the last is the most beloved—gathered them, the law is according to them, in the beauty of their decree. And from their words, I will understand their future. Every sealed thing, from the sealed fountain, and thereby in the grave, their lips speak. And in them, now, my years are to dwell in their righteousness. I, too, the small and the insignificant, Jacob, who dwells in the tent, an innocent man, with all my strength and my perception, I worked and labored and found. Behold, now, their life is in their hearts, and in my spirit and the labor of my hands, as I sat in their tents, in the tent of Jacob with students in the academy, which has an ordination in its practices. And from the table on high, I merited to understand from my compilations which I authored. And I spoke, and my colleagues accepted my words as law, as if transmitted from Sinai. What I taught and judged with a broken spirit, this is the Torah and this is its reward. Blessings shall clothe the teacher. And in the year 1713, in my lifetime in the city of Prague, quiet and peaceful, a house joined a companion, the hand of the Lord touched us and sent a plague upon Jacob. And I was forced to wander the wandering of a man, without debt or grain, for there is no artisan without tools, for I was living in abundance and passing through, from village to village in every corner and passage. Therefore I said, "I will seek a break, and not for the time without a thing." And I set it in my heart to study the words of Aggadah homiletic stories, and what I innovated according to the smallness of my intellect, I wrote for myself as a memory, and it shall be called by the name Ein Yaakov. And when the plague passed, and I returned to my study house in Prague, as at the first.

M.K. 58

And after my weariness I had a period of renewal. I was a cornerstone.
I was accepted as the head of the rabbinical court and head of the academy for the congregation of the children of Israel in the holy community of Worms, and upon my return, I was accepted as the head of the rabbinical court and head of the academy in the holy community of Wornitz likely referring to a locality in the region of Worms/Mainz on the Rhine. I asked to sit in peace to increase greatness among the students, and the sages in the outside shall cry out. But a thought is effective even for words of Torah, and its end is bitter as wormwood. And anger came upon me, and my belly trembled, for a Levite came like a father of eyes a play on his failing eyesight, and blindness came upon my eyes, my left and my right. The world went and grew dark before me. I said, "Heaven forbid, my hope is lost from me," for I justified upon myself the judgments and my laws. For in the preface to the second part of my Shevut Yaakov Return of Jacob, from my own words, I spoke in my tongue, the language of the rabbis against the gratuitous haters who envied me. I prayed before my mind to forgive me in this evil, this act of my enemies. The sages have already said, "A sin for what he merited—my eyes grew dim from anger." And from the trouble, I called and cried out to the Lord who heals me. "And take not Thy holy spirit from me," with it support me. "And do not give me over to death." And in Your Torah, illuminate my eyes. "Hear, O Lord, the voice of Jacob," do not cast me off and do not forsake me. And He had pity upon me from my dwelling. And in the hiddenness of wisdom, You shall make me know. And in the year 1721, my prayer was heard and He answered me, to send me a skilled physician to remove from before me the strength of the covering from my left and my right. Therefore I said to pay my vows which I vowed in the time of trouble, when my eyes dripped and I was silent, to complete the Ein Yaakov, and I examined my compilation Ein Yaakov on the entire Ein Yaakov. And I hope they will be words of balm and moisture to every reader, for I have not walked in great things and wonders, only that which is close to the intellect and the simple. And may the Lord guide me in the way of truth and to show me wonders from Your Torah, "And let them teach Jacob Thine ordinances, and Israel Thy law." They shall not depart from my mouth and from the mouth of my seed and from the mouth of my seed's seed forever. And I shall merit to print also the third part of my book Shevut Yaakov with legal novellae and additions which I innovated in my academy.

Preface of the Author of the Book Beit Yehuda House of Judah

As my steps passed in the year 1709, and my mouth spoke in the preface of my book Beit Lechem Yehuda House of Bread of Judah in the inquiry to complete the book Ein Yaakov, which is the pleasantness of Israel, in the name upon the face of the foundation? of the book Beit Yehuda, and I added the meaning of the parables and the reasons for the things which are to the glory? of the pleasantness of the author, and it is mentioned regarding the tractate and the Tosafot commentaries according to his way, truly from the whole as I encountered it, and I filled the lacks and the reasons and the difficulties of this. With all this, they shall not believe me by the law of the Lord, for I am a man of the lips, in a place where I have been called to water in it—he calls the name of the author, I have said many times, and on the time, and it is a path that I walked in the peace of their salvation, to the Lord, He is all and He is the buyer before you these words of the law as if transmitted from Sinai. What I taught and judged with a broken spirit, this is the Torah and this is its reward. Blessings shall clothe the teacher. And in the year 1713, in my lifetime in the city of Prague, quiet and peaceful, a house joined a companion, the hand of the Lord touched us and sent a plague upon Jacob. And I was forced to wander the wandering of a man, without debt or grain, for there is no artisan without tools, for I was living in abundance and passing through, from village to village in every corner and passage.

Go and say to my heart and the eyes that see me, for all these words were called new, those from the past, they did not return, and everyone was born to it if not to say from the secrets which the Lord calls in the source of Israel. And also it is the one who explained it, he who spoke pleasantness, and these things are remaining as they are and standing in their place until another comes who will call the host, and those who understand, and it is all from the action of their halakhot laws, for the truth will not be spoken, if a statement has no secret to it, or a likeness to it. And this is the small preparation which I have gathered, so that a man may strengthen himself and not despair, for with a little study of the path which is for the completion of the truth to the foundation of the sugyot Talmudic discussions in our path, from the commentary of the Rabbi, of blessed memory, or from the words of the Tosafot commentaries, or to any sign that is clarified in the peace of the ways, you will understand that for this, and for everything before the Almighty. Also, you, look into it and you will see the secret of every passerby upon all the words of the Lord, without a missing thing. Every word, and everything with intellect.

Behold, these are the few words in the dust of my threshold, in the dust that I have dug all the days of my life to yearn to find the faces of the waters, a little of what I have before me, here in the voice of the Lord in the rest of the yeshivot academies to receive the honor of the eye, in Leghorn Livorno and active upon all these until the person who is upon the book, his mouth shall give with a pen... And even though I have in my heart that I have scattered them in my life, also it is upon me to provide and to find all my tools, that I should not be confused, for I feared that they would say, "Lest he says that which is hidden from him after what our eyes see," and not to prepare for him, I have done this. And I wrote upon it with these? things for my honor.
See me and answer me and remove from before me the prayer to the Lord who rewards me, to return to the world and to return to me His blessings.

An ornamental woodcut divider featuring symmetrical floral and leafy scrollwork emanating from a central vase-like motif.