An Obscure Diagram in the Bomberg Shas

By Eli Genauer

A recent book auction
by Kestenbaum featured the following listing:

AUCTION 65: JUNE 25TH, 2015
LOT:
111 (TALMUD, BABYLONIAN). Masechta Sotah. With commentaries by Rashi, Tosaphoth,
Maimonides and Rabbeinu Asher. FIRST BOMBERG EDITION .. ……Vinograd, Venice 27;
Habermann, Bomberg 22.

Daniel Bomberg, Venice: 1520.
                   This
Tractate contains the only appearance of a printed text illustration throughout
the entire Talmud issued by Bomberg (see f. 43r).

The reference to ( see f.43r ) indicates that this singular
printed diagram in the Bomberg Shas appears on Daf 43A in Sotah.

It is a diagram of the configuration of trees in a particular
orchard and it looks like this

We find other instances of a Bomberg edition of tractate Sotah
being offered for sale, and they contain the same basic information.

Kedem Auctions Auction no. 40 – Books, Manuscripts, Rabbinical LettersWednesday, September 3, 2014 – 17:00Books & ManuscriptsTractate Sotah –
Venice, 1520 – Bomberg Printing, First EditionBabylonian Talmud, Tractate Sotah – with Rashi commentary and
Tosfot, Piskei Tosfot and Rambam’s commentary on the Mishna. Venice, 1520.
Printed by Daniel Bomberg, first edition.
On Leaf 43, 1 is an illustrative sketch on Rashi commentary. This is the
only printed sketch found in the Bomberg edition of the Talmud. Bomberg left
the rest of the places which were designated for sketches and illustrations
empty to complete with drawings after printing.

Sotheby’s
Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sotah, Venice: Daniel Bomberg, 1520
17 DECEMBER 2008 | 10:00
AM ESTNEW YORKBabylonian Talmud,
Tractate Sotah, Venice: Daniel Bomberg, 1520Folio (13¾ x 9½ in.; 350 x 242 mm.Folio 43r. provides the
only example of the inclusion of a printed diagram in the Bomberg Talmud.
In all other tractates, Bomberg simply left a blank space in which an
individual could insert a diagrammatic drawing.

The source for
this information most likely came from “Maamar al Hadfasat HaTalmud” by Raphael
Nathan Nata Rabbinovicz. It was first printed in 1868 as a hakdamah to
his book Dikdukei Sofrim on Masechet Brachot and later
added on to by Rabbinovicz and printed as a separate book.

I refer to this edition: Maamar ‘al
hadpasat ha-Talmud with Additions, ed. A.M. Habermann, Mossad ha-Rav Kook,
Jerusalem: 2006

On page 41,
Rabbinowicz, writing about the first Bomberg edition, states as follows

In all of the
Talmud ( and in all other older printed editions of the Talmud until the Berman
edition ( Frankfurt An Der Oder 1697-99) )the diagrams were not included in the
Talmud, Rashi and Tosfot, and their space remained empty, except for Sotah
43A, where we find a diagram in Rashi.

He seems to be
saying that not only in the Bomberg first edition was this the only diagram
included, but also in subsequent Bomberg editions this remained the only
diagram included. He even casts a wider net and says that this was the only
diagram included in any set of the Talmud until the Berman edition of Frankfurt
an Der Oder printed from 1697-1699.

Is this correct?
I would have to say it is mostly correct but not completely.

The Israel
National Library website contains the following page:

It can be
accessed at http://aleph.nli.org.il/nnl/dig/bk_sub.html

It is a
wonderful source for early printed books and it contains every tractate of the
first edition of the Bomberg  Shas. What
may a bit less known is that it also contains one tractate of the third edition
of the Bomberg  Shas, Masechet Zevachim,
printed in 1548. (1)

If we look at
Daf 53B, we are confronted with the following

A close up of
the bottom of the page looks like this

At first I
thought that this diagram of the Yesod of the Mizbeach had been drawn in by
hand, but an analysis of the difference in the way this page was set up versus
the same page in the first two editions lead me to conclude that this diagram
was added by the Bomberg editors intentionally and was included as part of the
printed page. Aside from that, I had the privilege of looking at this same page
in a different copy held by the JTS Library with Sharon Lieberman Mintz, ( JTS
Curator of Jewish Art) and she confirmed that this mechanical drawing and the
one available online at the NLI website were exactly the same.

If we look at
the 1520 edition, we can see the problem that the editors faced

Here is both 53A
and 54A

Let’s take a
closer look at the bottom of 53B, where the diagram appears in the third
edition

After a lengthy
explanation by Rashi on the makeup of the Yesod, he adds the word “Kazeh”. It
is right at the bottom. Usually, we would find an empty space there, but alas,
there is no room.

The empty space
where the diagram should go is not on the bottom of 53B, but rather on the top
of 54A. It has nothing to do with the Rashi that begins with the word
“Retzuah”.

So it is
possible that by the third edition of Zevachim, the Bomberg editors decided to
fix that. They set the type for 53B in a different manner, allowing them the
space for a diagram, and they even included the diagram.

I thought I
might find other diagrams in this third Bomberg edition and spent an afternoon
at the JTS Library looking through various Masechtot of that edition, but did
not find another diagram. As far as I know, this was the only diagram added to
the third edition. There is no way to know for sure why the Bomberg editors
added this one, just as there is no way to know why the diagram on Sotah 43A
was included in the first edition. But at least one can see what might have
bothered them here.

[1] I refer to this as the third edition although there is much discussion as to
whether this might actually be a fourth edition. For more background on this,
please see Marvin J.  Heller, Printing the Talmud (A History of
the Early Printed Editions of the Talmud )Im Hasefer, Brooklyn, NY 1992,
pages 167-180