Arba Turim

The first printed code of orthodox Jewish life was published a quarter-century after the Gutenberg Bible (1452). It was Rabbi Jacob 'ben Asher's famed Arba Turim (Code of the Jews). For five centuries it disappeared from the sight of orthodox Jews. Lately it was found in Italy bearing on its Hebraic pages three visas of papal inquisitioners who had examined it for heresies. Last week it was taken to Manhattan and placed in the Jewish Theological Seminary. It was purchased with funds (of concealed volume) donated by Theatrical Producer Abraham Lincoln Erlanger.