Extension:Ex-1.6.3-1
Rema’s Responsa
In 1640, a collection of Rema’s responsa was printed in Kraków. The volume included 132 responsa, some by other rabbis that the printers decided to include for various reasons. The earliest responsum is from August 1550, not long after Rema was appointed rabbi of Kraków and the environs in 1547. This responsum deals with a dispute between rival printing houses in Venice. Both printing houses were owned by non-Jews and both published editions of Mishneh Torah – Maimonides’ famous codification of Jewish law. Rema decided in favor of one of the printers – the one that operated under the auspices of one of the rabbinic elders at that time, Rabbi Meir Katzenellenbogen of Padua (1482-1565) – and he imposed a ban (ḥerem) on anyone who would purchase the edition of the rival publishing house. The latest responsum in the collection was written by Rema about a year before his death. In this responsum, Rema mentioned his halakhic writings that had already been published. It is likely that the 1640 printed collection of responsa are only some of the responsa that Rema wrote.