This is another book from my antique Hebrew book collection – Sefer Minchas Yaakov. It is a commentary on the laws of forbidden and permitted foods, printed in Fuerth in 1763, based on the original Prague edition.
It was Rabbi Jacob ben Joseph Reischer’s first published work. He was a prolific writer, and his books found wide acclaim.
The commentary is on Rabbi Moses Isserles’ (The Rema) Torat ha-Hattat and of the Shulhan Aruch, Hilchos Niddah and Rabbi Shabbetai ben Meir ha-Kohen’s (known as the Shach) Kunteres ha-Sefekos.
This book is in two parts, each with its own title page. The attractive title page, which has the printer’s mirror image monogram pressmark, states 
that it is a comprehensive practical commentary to the Torat ha-Hattat (on Issur ve-Hetter (dietary laws)) of the Rema, which now lies neglected because of its brevity and the complexity of its subject matter. It also deals with the laws of niddah, sefek sefeka, and includes responsa, for, “sin lies at the door, crouching between two burdens” (cf. Genesis 4:7, 49:14), resolving difficulties and addressing questions from earlier and later sources. There are introductions for Torat ha-Hattat and from Rabbi Reicher.
The book has haskamos (approbations or approvals) from R. Samuel Heilman, R. Isaac Zeckel Ethausen, and R. Nathaniel Ashkenazi Weil, an introductory paragraph from R. Reischer’s father-in-law, and verse from his father. The text of Minhas Yaakov is comprised of Torat ha-Hattat in square letters and Minhas Yaakov in rabbinic letters. It is followed by Torat ha-Shelamim on Yoreh De’ah Hilkhot Niddah (nos. 183-96) and Kunteres ha-Sefekot.
Rabbi Reischer was born in Prague in 1670 to a distinguished rabbinic family, and studied there under Rabbi Aaron Shimon Spira and then under Rabbi Spira’s son Rabbi Benjamin Wolf, who became his father-in-law.
Rabbi Reischer served as a dayan (rabbinical judge) in Prague and afterwards in Rzeszow, Galicia. The name Reischer derives from the fact that his family came from that location, rather than, as is sometimes erroneously believed, because he officiated in the rabbinate of that city.
Rabbi Reischer also served as Av Beis Din (head of the rabbinical court) and Rosh Yeshivah (head of the rabbinical school) in Ansbach, in Worms, and from 1718, held those positions in Metz. He was the author of important other works, Chok Ya’akov / Solet le-Minchah ve-Shemen le-Minchah (Dessau, 1696), the former on Hilchos Pesah, the latter an addenda to this work; and important responsa called Shevus Yaakov. He died in 1733.
Jewish Miscellanies 