Friday, February 20, 2009

A good Valmadonna question/observation:

CBY:
How much S'char (reward) do you think the non-jewish printer, Daniel Bomberg recieved for being the source of the printed edition of the Talmud?

How many thousands and thousands of hours of learning was he responsible for? Does he obtain merit for it, or since it was for him a logical business move, was his reward only in this world? Should we envy his portion in Olam Haba?

Personally, I believe that even if he didn't do it lishma, that Hashem has rewarded him generously for his part in spreading Torah through his printing of sefarim, as well as other non-Jewish printers of that era who who printed Hebrew Sefarim.
Elsewhere, CBY says he studied the Bomberg Talmud while he was there. I imagine the scores and scores of Jews who visited did the same (including, chalila, some women.) As CBY notes, its fabulous that those books were used again, by Jews, after sitting neglected for 400 years in a church. Another friend say he leined out of the 800 year old chumash manuscripts, as hair on the back of his neck stood up.

[How many more Valmadonna posts before this counts as another palooza?]

Small slideshow & supporting article

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