Hi Joshua,
Not having the set in front of me, I am going to guess that you are talking about the 1919 Montreal Talmud printed by Hirsch Wolofsky. Wolofsky was the owner of the Eagle Publishing Company, which printed the newspaper The Keneder Adler and many Yiddish books. This company was based in Montreal. Wolofsky had the idea to print the Talmud during WW1 when importing from Europe was near impossible. According to his autobiography, he did consult the Agudath Harabonim. His concerns in consulting them were party financial and partly due to copyright. In terms of copyright, the rabbis decided be could print the Vilna Shas in North America. In terms of finances, they created a partnership in which he was to handle the printing and they were going to finance the project. After printing two tractates he dissolved the partnership (according to his autobiography, which makes it odd that on the Hebrew title page credit is still given to the Agudath Harabonim). He used the Vilna Shas as his source for his printing. According to his autobiography, printing the Talmud had been attempted before in the English speaking world, but that he was the first to succeed (it actually seems to be a point of Canadian pride in his autobiography that it happened in Canada before it did in either the United States or the United Kingdom). He also claims to be the fifth publisher in the history of the Talmud (I am taking this to mean of compete print editions). If this is the edition that the Rabbi has, I treat the Eagle Publishing Company as the formal publisher, but give Wolofsky credit and mention when possible as this was really his project. Hope this helps, Michael Kent On Wed, Dec 28, 2016 at 1:30 AM, Fred Isaac <[email protected]> wrote: > That's a fascinating question. Can you please post the final response to > the list, Joshua? I'd also like to know who the publisher of the Rabbi's > set is, and if it's not the earliest, who did it. > > Thanks, > Fred Isaac > > On Tue, Dec 27, 2016 at 1:43 PM, Joshua Jasper <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hi all, >> >> I have a research query from a local rabbi that is wondering whether his >> all-Hebrew volumes of the Talmud are the oldest all-Hebrew set of Shas >> printed and published in America. He told me that the set is from the >> Council of Rabbis in the United States and Canada, with the earliest volume >> in his possession from 1919. I believe that the publisher may be the >> Agudath Harabonim (known in English as the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the >> United States and Canada (UOR)). >> >> Historically, in the late 19th and early 20th century the Talmud had to >> be imported from Europe at great cost because none were being produced in >> North America. So while 1919 seems awfully late, it is definitely >> reasonable that it could be the oldest American printing. >> >> Please respond directly by email if you have any information that may be >> helpful. >> >> Thanks, >> >> Joshua Jasper >> Librarian >> Rosen Library >> >> Temple Emanu-El >> 99 Taft Ave >> Providence, RI >> >> __ >> Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual >> author >> and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries >> (AJL) >> ================================== >> Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: >> [email protected] >> To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: >> https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran >> Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] >> Ha-Safran Archives: >> Current: >> http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-st >> ate.edu/maillist.html >> Earlier Listserver: >> http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state. >> edu/maillist.html >> AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org >> -- >> Hasafran mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran >> >> > > __ > Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual > author > and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries > (AJL) > ================================== > Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: > [email protected] > To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: > https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran > Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] > Ha-Safran Archives: > Current: > http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio- > state.edu/maillist.html > Earlier Listserver: > http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio- > state.edu/maillist.html > AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org > -- > Hasafran mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran > >
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