Manuscript - Ha'Mordechai - circa the 14th Century - Different from the Printed Version of the Talmud

Manuscript - Ha'Mordechai - circa the 14th Century - Different from the Printed Version of the Talmud
A piece of parchment of a copying of a manuscript of Sefer Mordechai on the chapter of "Eizehu Neshech" of the Baba Metzi'ah tractate of the Babylonian Talmud. The 14th-15th Centuries. Ashkenazic script.
The passage on the parchment includes part of a responsum by the Maharam of Rothenburg [Rabbi Meir Ben Baruch], which is cited by his leading disciple Rabbi Mordechai ben Hillel – the "Mordechai", one of the most prominent Poskim of the 13th century.
Originally, the responsum was printed in the Maharam Responsa (Prague 1608 edition); however, in the version of the "Mordechai" which is known from the printed editions of the Talmud, this responsum, which, as said above, was cited by the "Mordechai", was omitted!
That is, the copying before us is of an earlier manuscript, which was more complete and precise than the manuscript from which the "Mordechai" was printed in the editions of the Talmud. (Indeed, recently, a complete manuscript of the "Mordechai" was printed, which includes this responsum. Printed by Y. Kleinman, Sefer Netzer Mata'I on Baba Metzi'ah, Jerusalem 1991, pp. 11-113).
Reb Yehuda David Eisenstein (in Otzar Yisrael, sixth section, pp. 291) notes: "the prestige of the book was known already in the lifetime of Rabbi Mordechai and scribes made many copies of it. Thus, there are weird copies and many of the manuscripts contain errors". In contrast, before us is a remnant of a manuscript that is more precise than the one from which the "Mordechai" was printed in the Talmud.
The parchment is glued onto a wooden plate which served as the binding of the book. [What is described above is the side of the parchment which we see. There is an inscription on the other side as well; yet because the parchment is glued onto the wood, it is unreadable. An expert might be able to separate the parchment from the wood to reveal the inscription on the other side of the parchment].
Ha'Mordechai marks the learning method in Ashkenaz after the 'Ba'alei Ha'Tosafot', when Pesikah books started to form. The book 'Ha'Mordechai' on the Talmud – Halachic rulings (Piskei Halacha) of the Sugiyot of the Talmud – is a compilation of Halachic responses by Ashkenazic rabbis, beginning with early responses, even those of Rabbenu Gershom and additional rabbis of Ba'alei Ha'Tosafot until contemporary rabbis such as his rabbi, the Mahram of Rethenburg.
Due to the importance of the "Ha'Mordechai", many subsequent rabbis who compiled responsum, did not write it in a separate book but rather added it to the book, which became the most important compilation of responsum by the rabbis of Ashkenaz.
Condition: Fair.