(TALMUD FORGERY). “Massekhet Orlah U’Bikurim min ...

(TALMUD FORGERY). “Massekhet Orlah U’Bikurim min Talmud Bavli.” Small handwritten notebook purporting to be two missing Tractates of the Babylonian Talmud; along with related documentation.

Written in a petite cursive Aschkenazi Hebrew hand. Tractate Orlah is written on 56 numbered pages; at the end of is the date Sunday of Lech-Lecha 5678 (1917). The second tractate, Bikurim, is written on 52 numbered pages; and is both dated and signed: “From me, the copyist, Mordechai Yekusiel ben Nachum Yehuda, a child of Plotel, at present here in Kurshan (Kuršėnai, Lithuania) Monday of Vayakhel 5678.” pp. 108. Boards. 12mo.

1917-18.

    Of the 11 tractates of the Mishnah in Seder Zeraim, there is a corresponding Talmudic tractate for just one, Massekhet Berachot. By contrast, the Jerusalem Talmud has all 11 tractates corresponding fully to the Mishnah. THIS NOTEBOOK CONTAINS THE TEXT OF TWO BABYLONIAN TALMUD TRACTATES OF SEDER ZERAIM, HERETOFORE, ENTIRELY UNKNOWN.

     Accompanying the notebook is a detailed 2-page autograph Hebrew biographical statement by one MORDECHAI YEKUSIEL BEN NACHMAN YEHUDA PRESS in which he recounts how he unearthed the manuscript. The story told by Press begins in his hometown of Plotel, near Salant, following Yom Kippur of the year 5659 (1898). Press was sifting through the belonging of his deceased father and upon opening an old copper box, found a manuscript on ancient parchment that began with the heading “Talmud on Tractates Orlah and Bikurim.” A colophon at the end of the manuscript reads: “I, Mar Zutra son of Mar Zutra, Scribe of the House of Rav.”

    Recognizing how fantastic this tale sounded, Press challenges the idea that this is a forgery by simply asking: “Can an unaccomplished man like myself create a Gemara? - I doubt even the rabbis of our generation could do so.” He notes that he never studied in yeshiva and that the discovery is so remarkable he could not even have dreamt it.

     Press also refers to six letters he received from rabbinic scholars, in which they express skepticism, along with his responses. Three are from Rabbi Ze’ev Wolf Rabinowitz of Brisk, an expert on the Jerusalem Talmud, and author of Shaarei Torat Eretz Yisrael (Jerusalem, 1940).

    IN ADDITION  to the Talmud manuscript, a small notebook accompanies the lot containing three rabbinic letters attesting that, at the very least, the copyist - his full name is given as Rabbi Mordechai Press - has presented something very curious and notable and worthy of publication. The rabbis are Rabbi Meir Atlas of Shavel, Rabbi Shlomo Nathan Cutler of Luknik (and at present Detroit in America), and Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Ish-Shalom of Kurshan, where Press resides.

    This manuscript is obviously reminiscent of the forgery of Seder Kodashim of the Jerusalem Talmud that appeared in 1907 which created enormous controversy in both rabbinic and scholarly circles (and which still reverberates).

CLEARLY, THOROUGH RESEARCH IS REQUIRED TO FULLY UNEARTH THE ORIGIN OF THIS SURPRISING AND REMARKABLE MANUSCRIPT.