Sefer Hayashar. First Edition. Constantinople, Circa 1515
Topics of mussar, Jewish ethics and repentance attributed to Rabbeinu Tam.
This is an exceedingly rare sefer, and many bibliophiles have expressed that this sefer is as rare as an incunabulum.
Sefer Hayashar was enthusiastically received throughout the Jewish world and printed in dozens of editions. Already in the period of the Rishonim, Rabbi Yehuda son of the Rosh instructed, “Accustom yourself to learning from sefer Chovos Halevavos and Sefer Hayashar” (Tzava’as Rabbi Yehuda ben HaRosh, Pressburg 1885, p. 11).
The title on the first page mentions the author of this sefer as Rabbeinu Tam, although this is presumably an error, presumably due to Rabbeinu Tam’s Sefer Hayashar on halachah.
Rabbi Avraham Sava, one of the notable Spanish sages who endured the Spanish Expulsion, wrote in his sefer Tzror Hamor, Parshas Nitzavim: “
And they say that Rabbeinu Tam wrote it.”
However the kabbalist Rabbi Menachem de Lonzano writes with certainty that the author is Rabbi Zerachya Hayevani (the Greek), and the Chid”a is inclined to concur with this opinion (Shem Hagedolim, Rabbi Zerachya Hayevani).
One of the earliest sifrei mussar!
Constantinople, 1515-1520. Printed without title page or printing details. [40] leaves. Wide margins were professionally added to all leaves in the sefer, affording it a uniform, prestigious appearance. With the extension, the sefer now measures 23 cm. Bound in elaborate leather binding with gilded engravings and preserved in a matching case.
Stefansky, Sifrei Yesod #463
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