The Fraudulent Yerushalmi - The Book that Provoked a Historic Controversy

"See this is new!!! ...

The Fraudulent Yerushalmi - The Book that Provoked a Historic Controversy

"See this is new!!! Published for the first time from an ancient manuscript ..."

Tractates Zevachim-Erchin from Seder Kadshim, with the Cheshek Shlomo commentary. Printed by the counterfeiter Shlomo-Algazi Friedlander. Varahl, Ya'akov Weider Press, 1909. Two color title pages. A 'facsimile'[!] appears on the back of the first title page.

The Talmud Yerushalmi on Seder Kadshim was lost during the period of the Rishonim and was never printed. At the beginning of the 20th century, Rabbi Friedlander (who also adopted a false identity as a descendant of the Sephardic Algazi family) came and copied with much talent all the sayings from the Yerushalmi Kadshim that were cited in the books of the Rishonim, integrating sayings from the Yerushalmi in other sedarim, and publicized that he found an ancient manuscript that contained the lost Yerushalmi.

This fraudulent work was initially accepted by most rabbis and researchers such as the Maharsh"am, who even wrote glosses on the book that were published with it. On the other hand, there were those whose sharp eyes, such as the author of Kli Chemdah, Rabbi Dov Aryeh Ritter, av beit din of Rotterdam, the Rogochover and the author of Ohr Somayach, revealed the fraud and publicized it. The Yerushalmi controversy lasted several years and many books were published supporting each of the sides (most of the publications supporting the veracity of the Yerushalmi were put out by Friedlander himself, using various assumed names). After the fraud was clearly determined, most copies were buried.