Sefer Mincha Belula. Commentary on Chamisha Chumshei Torah by Rabi Avraham Menachem Hacohen Rafeh from Porto [Rapaport[.
Verona, 1594. Only edition.
Printed on the title page is "In the year of our master, His Majesty the Duke Pasquale Cicogna…" (Doge of Venice during 1585-1595); but it is not clear if the inscription is referring to the year of printing.
The initial word of each of the Five Books of Moses surrounded by a richly historiated vignette.
The author is one of the ancestors of the Rapaport family — see the ‘Shem Hagdolim’ of the Chida in the series of sefarim the series of the Mincha Belula.
Printed on Leaf 207/b is the large & impressive emblem of the Rappaport family, a crow and palms of hands (symbolizing the fact that they are Kohanim). Printed on Leaf 208 is an apology by the proofreader titled "The proofreader (misspelled and corrected in some copies) said".
A rare introduction of 1000 words, each of which contains the letter ב! With a poem in honor of the sefer by Rabbi Avraham Fishkrul.
Among the first Sefarim to be printed in Verona.
Signatures of the Gaon Rabbi Avraham Chaim Adadi – Av Beit Din of Tripoli, was a grandson of Rabbi Massoud Chai Rokeach, author of Maaseh Rokeach. He started serving as an adjudicator at a young age, and traveled to Safed, Egypt, Persia and Damascus. He passed away in Safed in 1874. He authored HaShomer Emet, Vayikra Avraham.
Rabbi Avraham dedicated his home to the community. One room was used as a synagogue and another as a library – the largest in Tripoli. It was used as a study hall for sages who learned there. This book was used in that room and was stamped by his son: [in Hebrew] "From the library of the yeshivah of my father, Rabbi Avraham Chaim Adadi ztzuk"l, the youth Shaul Adadi."
Whilst a young man, the author was apprenticed as a proofreader at the House of Bragadin in Venice. There he witnessed the violent burning of the Talmud pursuant to the Papal Bull of 1553. In the present work, Rapaport records the tragic event and notes his decision to commemorate the anniversary of the Auto-da-Fe as a personal fast-day for the rest of his life. See A. Yaari, Sereiphath HaTalmud BeItalia in: Mechkarei Sepher (1958) pp. 198-233.
The author was the progenitor of the celebrated Rapaport dynasty of rabbinic scholars. The family coat-of-arms prominently placed on f. 207v includes a pair of Priestly hands raised in blessing and a black raven which refers to the Middle High German word "rappe" - raven, seemingly, the German family name. Indeed, the author refers to himself in his introduction as Benei Ha\'Orvim - \'of the children of the ravens\' See Heller, The Sixteenth Century Hebrew Book, pp. 828-9.
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