David HaLevi Segal - Works

Works

Most of Segal's works were published long after his death. The Turei Zahav (טורי זהב - "Rows of Gold"), an indispensable commentary on Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim), was published by Shabbethai Bass in Dyhernfurth in 1692, together with the Magen Abraham by Abraham Abele Gumbiner. The title Turei Zahav is a play on the similar-sounding turei zahav (תורי זהב), "towers of gold", in Song of Songs 1:11. The title is abbreviated as Taz (ט"ז), and subtitled Magen David ("Shield of David", after Segal's first name) in many editions. Both commentaries (Taz and Magen Abraham), together with the main text, the Shulchan Aruch, were republished frequently with several other commentaries, and still hold first rank among halakhic authorities.

Two years before the publication of this work, Judel of Kovli, in Volhynia, a kabbalist and Talmudic scholar who wrote a commentary on Orach Chaim, gave money to have it published together with the Taz. His wishes were never carried out, and his money was used to publish another of Segal's works, Divrei David ("The Words of David"), a supercommentary on Rashi (Dyhernfurth, 1690). Part of the Taz on Shulchan Aruch (Chosen Mishpat, to ch. ccxcvi), appeared separately in Hamburg in the same year, with notes by Tzvi Ashkenazi. The other half, in spite of various attempts and general demand, did not appear until about seventy years later (Berlin, 1761). The Taz on Shulchan Aruch (Eben ha-Ezer), which was utilized in manuscript by Samuel ben Phoebus, the author of Bet Shemuel on the same part of the Shulchan Aruch, was first printed in Zolkiev in 1754.

Segal also authored responsa which, though sometimes quoted from the manuscripts, were never published. He and Shabbethai Kohen (the ShaK) are among the greatest halakhic authorities among the Acharonim. In 1683, the Council of Four Lands declared that the authority of the Taz should be considered greater than that of the ShaK, but later the ShaK gained more and more in authority.