Bayit ḥadash

All notes by Chaim Meiselman:notes This is the second printing of the volume of responsa of R. Yoel Sirkis called Bayit Ḥadash, printed by Johannes Wust in Frankfurt-am-Main in 1697. The volume was brought to press by a woman, who isn’t named throughout the volume; she is only identified as the wife of R. Meier Stern (before 1661-1680?) and daughter of R. Mendel Bass of Frankfurt, originally of Krakow. The name of R. Meier Stern’s wife was Tamara, who died a decade previous; perhaps the publisher of the volume was Tamara’s sister Juttlein, whom he married after her sister’s death. For the connection between Stern (and his wife) with R. Hayyim Ya’ir Bacharach (whose responsa was printed for the first time in Frankfurt under Wust with identical layouts and title in 1699) see: David Kaufmann, ’Jair Chayim Bacharach: A Biographical Sketch’ in The Jewish Quarterly Review Vol. 3, No. 2 (Jan., 1891), pp. 305. The title features two cherubs under a header of block print; a medallion style of flora surround the title statement and imprint. The design may have been influenced by the female publisher, and the subsequent few folio printings by Johannes Wust in Frankfurt feature many of the design elements here. Following the ordered responsa are translations of the Yiddish languaged responsa (nos. 56 and 70). Haskamot of R. Joseph-Shmu’el of Krakow, presiding over the Frankfurt rabbinate, 11 Tamuz 1696; R. Jacob Sasportas of the Spanish-Portuguese community of Amsterdam, 1 Tevet 1696. Following is an introduction by Shelomoh-Zalman Delheim of Frankfurt, son-in-law to R. Meier Stern (before 1661-1680?), a Kabbalist from Frankfurt who later served the Fulda and Amsterdam rabbinates, and was known to have taught Kabalah to Christian Knorr von Rosenroth (1631-1689); he died in Poland. Includes indexes. references Friedberg, B. Bet eked sefarim, v. 3 p. 955 #159 Steinschneider, M. Cat. librorum hebraeorum, p. 1402 #5840 no. 2 BM Hebrew, p. 325