Uncommon and valuable collection comprised of dozens of sefarim dealing with all areas of hidden and revealed Torah, printed by Jews in Shanghai, China, where they had fled from various cities in Europe to escape the Nazi enemy. Some of the sefarim were printed by students at the various yeshivahs – the Lithuanian-style Mir, Chassidic Chachmei Lublin, and Tomchei Temimim of Chaba”d. Some were printed by organizations such as Agudat Yisrael, and some by private individuals (it is reasonable to assume that the distribution of the latter was smaller). The sefarim were printed from 1942-1946, and they include a high percentage of all the sefarim printed by the European exiles at the time.
Provenance: Private library of the mighty gaon Rabbi Yosef Segal Horowitz, rosh yeshivah of Chiddushei HaRi”m, for decades. Rabbi Yosef was a student at the Mir yeshivah, and despite his relative youth, he had the privilege of studying b’chavruta with the leading student there, Rabbi Yonah Karpilov, author of Yonat Ilem . When the main group from the yeshivah was exiled to Shanghai, he joined them, and this is where he acquired these sefarim . Rabbi Yosef passed away about two months ago at the age of about 102, and he is considered the last remnant of the Mir yeshivah in the Shanghai exile.
Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a detailed lists of the scholarly, Kabbalistic and Chassidic works and Torah journals in this collection printed in Shanghai, along with a list of sefarim that were not printed in Shanghai, and a brief biography of the mighty gaon Rabbi Yosef Segal Horowitz .
Total of [37] titles in [36] sefarim and booklets. Various sizes.
Overall moderate condition. Detached leaves and groups of leaves, tears (some with blemishes and lack in the text), usage and aging stains. Lacking some bindings, many are detached.
Sifrei Likkutei Shoshanim – a list of the books collected by the rabbi, the great gaon … expert in all Jewish literature, the respected philanthropist among his people, Rabbi Matityahu Strashun ztz”l of Vilna. Berlin, Tzvi Hirsch Itzkowisky, 1889. First edition.
Over 5700 sefarim , manuscripts, kuntressim and paper items are listed in this catalog, some extraordinarily scarce to this day. This library is considered one of the most important personal libraries. Rabbi Matityahu was a son of Rabbi Shmuel – the Rash”sh, author of glosses on Sha”s printed inside the gemera. His son Rabbi Matityahu’s glosses also merited to be printed in most editions of the Talmud, beginning with the Vilna edition.
Rare jacket cover included with this copy.
IV, 304 pp + front and back covers. 20.5 cm. Several handwritten comments, some early.
Moderate condition. Detached leaves and groups of leaves. Minimal worming perforations. Not bound.
Sefer Tziyun L’Nefesh Chayah – Tzala”ch , novellae on Tractate Pesachim by the mighty gaon Rabbi Yechezkel Landau, av beit din of Prague and author of Noda BiYehudah . Prague, 1784. First edition, in the author’s lifetime.
First part published from the Tzala”ch series on Talmudic tractates, which became fundamental works in every beit midrash ! Page 53b bears a correction in an antique script. This correction is not included in the table of errata at the end of the volume.
Provenance: From the library of R’ Moshe Ben-Yashar, legendary editor of the Chareidi weekly Zarkor .
[2], 123, [1] leaf. 34.5 cm.
Moderate-fine condition. Slight worming perforations in the margins of some of the leaves. Tears in both leaves, without lack. Detached or partially detached leaves and groups of leaves. Light wear in the white margins of the leaves at the beginning of the sefer . Old binding, blemished and detached.
Pachad Yitzchak – Alpha Beta Ravta , including halachahs and aggadahs, mishnah , breita , Sh”as, the Ri”f and adjudicative literature by Rabbi Yitzchak Lampronte of Firerra, known ever since as Ba’al Pachad Yitzchak . 13 parts. Venice – Reggio – Livorno, 1750-1888. Complete set. First edition. Giant project printed over approximately 140 years. Stefansky, Sifrei Yessod 531.
The first halachic-Talmudic Encyclopedia, it includes thousands of halachic-Tamudic topics in alphabetical order. Massive collection with almost all concepts and terms in Talmudic, midrashic and rabbinic literature. Monumental work also characterized by the arrangement of the entries.
The author had the privilege of completing writing this entire magnum opus . However, the printing was spread over a period of 140 years. The author managed to publish only the first parts, letters א-ד, in his lifetime. The volumes with letters ו-מ were printed in Venice, Reggio and Livorno 1798-1839 – decades after the author’s passing; and completion of the work – letters נ onward, was done by the Mekitzei Nirdamim Society in Lyck and in Berlin 1864-1888.
Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of Rabbi Yitzchak Lampronte .
Specifications of the parts:
Part I: Venice, 1750. [7], 124; 76 leaf. Lacking the title page.
Part II: Volume I: Venice, 1753. [4], 105 leaf, [1] folded leaf with the order of writing a gett document.
Part II: Volume II: Venice, 1796. [1], 110 leaf.
Part III: Venice, 1798. [1], 93, without the folded leaf.
Part IV: Venice-Reggio, 1813. [1], 108; 28 leaf.
Part V: Livorno, 1839. [1], 241 leaf.
Part VI: Koenigsberg, 1864. [2] 100 leaf.
Part VII: Lyck, 1866. [2] 196 leaf.
Part VIII: Lyck, 1868. [2] 173 leaf.
Part IX: Lyck, 1871. [2] 74 leaf.
Part X: Lyck, Mekitzei Nirdamim, Rudolph Siebert Press, 1874 [2] 200 leaf. 8°.
Part XI: Berlin, 1885. 148 leaf. There are several variants.
Part XII: Berlin, 1887. [1] 328, [1] p.
Part XIII: Berlin, [1] 183 leaf. Printed as a serial; there are copies with an additional frontispiece.
This set is bound in seven volumes: Three large volumes, 34 cm. and 5 smaller volumes 31 cm.
Overall fine condition.
“If not for him – the piyyutim would already have been lost and no longer recited in our generations ” (The Chata”m Sofer about the Rav”eh)
Chumash Torat Moshe – chamishah chumshei Torah, with a German translation and the Minchah Chadashah commentary, edited by Wolf b”r Shimshon z”l, Ish Heidenheim. Complete set in five volumes. First edition. Rödelheim, 1818-1821. Important and precise edition which earned the praise of the lights of the generations and of Chassidut.
Including the haftarot and the Shabbat Shacharit prayers, printed as an addition to the other chumashim, and added to only some copies of the Torat Moshe c humash. The second pagination includes the haftarot with an identical title page, and the third pagination consists of the Shabbat Shacharit and Mussaf prayers, followed by hymns for special Shabbats. (under different appellations: yotzer , ahavah , zulat , etc).
This is the first edition of the chumash with the commentary by the Rav”eh [Rabbi Wolf Heidenheim], as appears on the title page: “… Absolutely precise and orderly, by me, Wolf b”r Shimshon z”l, Ish Heidenheim.” The Chatam Sofer observed about him “If not for him (the complete sage Rabbi Wolf Heidenheim) – the piyyutim would already have been lost and no longer recited in our generations.” Chassidic leaders also admired him very much, and when the Alter Rebbe of Lubavitch published his famous siddur, he gave instructions that it be proofread according to the siddur by the renowned sage R’ Wolf Heidenheim that was printed in Rödelheim “because it is very precise and extremely well proofread.”
Details of the volumes:
Bereishit: [3], 143; 24, 4, 54 leaf. Signature: “Yettel, wife of Hirsch Landaur.”
Shemot: [1], 137; 28, 78 leaf.
Vayikra: [1], 107; 24, 80 leaf.
Bamidbar: [1], 134, [1], 16, 50 leaf. Lacking leaf 43 from the leaves of yotzrot .
Devarim: [1], 129; 52 leaf.
Five volumes. 16.5 cm.
Overall fine condition. Stains and usage marks. Several leaves are worn, detached or partially detached. Adhesion on the title page of Shemot, in the margins of the text. Simple bindings, some of which are dismantled.
Sefer Shnei Luchot HaBrit by the gadol v’kadosh hadorot , the G-dly Kabbalist Rabbeinu Yeshayah HaLevi Horowitz, also known as ‘HaShla”h HaKadosh’ after the name of this sefer . Amsterdam, Immanuel Benveniste press, 1648-1649. First edition. First edition of ‘Tefillat HaShla”h’ for one’s descendants!!! Lacking individual leaves (see below).
First edition of the sefer renowned across the entire Diaspora throughout the generations, and by which name Rabbi Yeshayah HaLevi Horowitz is known, as the Ba’al Ha Shla”h HaKadosh . This is the first edition, printed with much effort by the author’s son, Rabbi Sheftel, rabbi of Poznań.
This first edition was printed in the midst of the Chmielnicki massacres that took place in Eastern Europe, when parents were slaughtered alongside their children, via strange and unusual deaths, in sanctification of Hashem’s name. Page 258a bears a prayer to be recited upon dying al kiddush Hashem .
This sefer is one of the fundamental works of mussar and Kabbalah, including insights in the revealed and hidden, and proper conduct. Among the most sacred and admired sefarim in all circles and communities among the Jewish people. With Vavei HaAmudim by the author’s son, Rabbi Sheftel. Out of respect for his father, he referred to his own work as an introduction.
The sefer features several additional prayers composed by the Shla”h HaKadosh: a prayer for livelihood beginning with the words “You are the L-rd, who nurtures oryx horns through louse eggs …” and the renowned ‘Tefillat HaShla”h’ for children’s upbringing, about which the Shla”h writes that Rosh Chodesh Sivan is an auspicious time to recite it – and indeed, throughout the generations and until this day, there are mass gatherings in which this prayer is recited at the Shla”h’s grave in Tiberias. It is difficult to exaggerate the magnitude of the segulah concealed within reciting the famous and important prayers for livelihood and for children’s upbringing from a copy of an actual first edition of Sefer HaShla”h HaKadosh .
” … I have come to request and plead before You that my children and my children’s children forever be befitting offspring, and that no blemish or imperfection be found among them; only peace and truth and goodness, what is proper in the eyes of G-d and man. May they master Torah … Grant them health and honor and strength, stature, beauty, charm and lovingkindness, and may there be love and brotherhood amongst them … Grant them appropriate spouses from the seed of Torah scholars …”
Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for further discussion of the sefer .
Stefansky, Sifrei Yessod 359.
Owners’ signatures (some rubbed out). Antique handwritten text revisions.
Lacking the title page and the first leaf of Shnei Luchot HaBrit . Vavei HaAmudim lacks the title page and leaves 4-5.
This copy contains: 421 [1]: 2-3, 44 leaf, 28.5 cm.
Overall moderate-fine condition. Aging stains. Several leaves are bound out of order.
Kitzur Shulchan Aruch by Rabbi Shlomo Gantzfried, second edition with many supplements and revisions by the author. Lemberg, by Avraham Nissan Ziss. 1866.
Second edition of this renowned sefer , first printed by the author in 1864, and printed in hundreds (!) of editions since then. This sefer printed in 1864 saw enormous success, and within a year, almost all the copies were sold. In Sivan 1865, the author printed an announcement in the HaMevaser newspaper published in Lvov. In it, he wrote that the supply has been exhausted and that he wants to publish another edition with “some revisions.” He requests that anyone with comments or corrections send them to him. This sefer is the mahadurah tanina the author printed in 1866.
The Bibliographiah mentions a mahadurah tlita’a , also printed in Lemberg by Avraham Nissan Ziss, also extraordinarily rare. However, neither the Mif’al HaBibliographiah nor the Otzar HaSefer HaIvri HaMemuchshav record the second edition. The National Library also does not have this second edition. A search in Worldcat reveals only a copy in the Bar Ilan library.
Even in the period immediately after printing the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch , it was said to have achieved the widest circulation ever, second only to the Tana”ch. The author’s son-in-law wrote that there was no other sefer printed in so many editions and copies in the author’s lifetime. A comprehensive article on this subject is included.
[4] 168 leaf, 17 cm.
Fine-very fine condition. Individual worming perforations and light tears without lack in the text in the first 4 leaves and the final leaf.
Large collection consisting of dozens of sefarim on various topics – scholarship and halachah, mussar and history, published 1763-1940. Most have owners’ signatures and notations, some important.
Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a detailed list.
Total of [29] sefarim in [36] volumes.Overall moderate-fine condition. Not examined for missing leaves. Sold as is.
Tikkun Sofrim – Chamishah Chumshei Torah. With Chamesh Meggilot. And Haftarot, per the custom of all the sacred communities (Ashkenazim and Sephardim). With some additional virtues, Amsterdam, Dayan Moshe Frankfurt Press, 1727. With the haftarah volume.
Beautiful set of Tikkun Sofrim . Additional decorative title page, copperplate with illustrations of four biblical episodes: “David Dancing, ” “Anointing David to the Monarchy, ” “Eliyahu on Har HaCarmel” and “Solomon’s Trial.”
Six volume set, one volume for each chumash (with sequential page numbering) and a volume of haftarot .
Six matching leather volumes with gilt imprints.
[1], 367, [1]; 118, [2] leaf. Some copies have an additional title page for the haftarahs and an additional leaf at the end.
Fine condition. Minimal restored tears in several leaves. Original title page with an artistically restored spine.
Shirei David HaMelech – vegy David Kiraly Enekei forditotta – Tehillim with a Hungarian translation by Moshe Rosenthal.
Tehillim with Hungarian translation written per the translation by Moses Mendelssohn. The translation is on facing pages. The sefer is divided into two parts. Each of the five sifrei Tehillim has a dedicated title page. With an introduction in the form of a poem by the translator. The poem is also translated into Hungarian.
The sefer was printed in Buda, before it united with Pest and became Budapest.
Uncommon sefer .
Owners’ signatures and stamps.
[6], 345 pp. Approximately 20 cm.
Fine condition. Blemish in the title page without damage to text.
Meggilat Shir HaShirim with the Oteh Ohr elucidation by Rabbi Yechiel Heller, av beit din of Plungian.
Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of the author, Rabbi Yechiel Heller .
Signatures and owner’s stamps by “The bridegroom Yisrael Segal”; “Yisrael b”r Ya’akov Segal”; “Yisrael Lansky”; “Lazer ben Ya’akov Petzansky HaLevi.”
104 pp, 20 cm.
Fine condition. Minimal aging stains.
Tractate Berachot from the Babylonian Talmud, with Mishnayot Seder Zera’im, accompanied by the basic commentaries. Brought to print by Rabbi Aryeh Yehudah Leib son of Rabbi Yosef Shmuel of Kraków, av beit din of Frankfurt am Main, proofread by the renowned dayan Rabbi Moshe Frankfurt. Amsterdam, Shmuel Narkis and Raphael di Polashyosh Press, 1714. Leather-covered wooden binding. Impressive and beautiful. Remnants of buckles. Gilt imprints.
First tractate of this very common important and proofread edition. This edition was printed a short time after the Talmud was printed in Frankfurt am Oder by the gvir Yissachar Berman Segal, to whom the publisher expresses appreciation on the title page of the tractate, for giving him permission to print Sha”s within a short time.
As a result of the printing of this Talmud, the publisher faced opposition from two different printers – Shlomo Proops of Amsterdam, who also began to print Sha”s that year but after a delay due the publisher R’ Leib, Proops printed only Tractate Berachot and Mishnayot Zera’im. The second printer who opposed him was R’ Michel Guttshlak, who received approbations from the Kaisers of Germany, Poland and Prussia, who forbade other printers to print the Talmud. Due to this prohibition, R’ Leib was forced to stop his work, and not finish printing the Talmud in Amsterdam. After several years, likely after some lobbying, he continued his work in Frankfurt am Main.
Aside from the important proofreading work here, an interesting phenomenon was added to this edition: Punctuation in the gemara text, dividing it into sentences. The punctuation marks are present only in the first perek . It is unknown as to whether this had to do with the hard work involved in this for the workers at the printshop, or whether it was due to the different halachic ramifications that could be derived from various possibilities of punctuation, or the rabbis’ desire to preserve the text without changes, or possibly other reasons currently unknown to us.
100; 87 leaf. Approximately 36.5 cm. Signature on the title page and leaf 18. Short gloss on leaf 16. Signatures and notations on the protective leaves, not examined.
Fine condition, several leaves in moderate condition. Wear, tears and adhesions in the first leaves. Light tears in the lower margins of dozens of leaves. Usage marks and aging stains. Several leaves are partially detached. Leather-covered wooden binding. Remnants of buckles. Gilt imprints. Antique binding, slightly blemished. With lacks in the spine.
Meginei Eretz – Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim, Turei Zahav and Magen Avraham . With the Ateret Zekeinim commentary. Dyhernfurth, 1702. Second edition of Meginei Eretz . Lacking the end.
Including all the renowned works, Mag en Avraham and Turei Zahav , and the first edition of Ateret Zekeinim . Meginei Eretz with the two renowned commentaries printed for the first time in 1692 in Dyhernfurth by Rabbi Shabtai Meshorrer Bass, author of Siftei Chacahmim on Rash”i’s commentary on the Torah, and Siftei Yesheinim . The original edition was sold out within about ten years, and he reprinted it in 1702, including this copy here. The introduction to the first part is also included, and another introduction for this edition. Some of the important approbations given to this edition include those from: Rabbi Avraham Brody, Rabbi David Oppenheim, Rabbi Naftali HaKohen Katz and others.
Refer to Stefansky, Sifrei Yessod 163.
Owners’ notations.
[5] 147 150-213 212-338 leaf, mispaginated. Lacking 4 leaves at the end, the last two simanim of Shulchan Aruch and the index leaves. 31.5 cm.
Very fine condition. Brown paper.
Chiddushei HaTorah – novellae by Torah commentators – the Rishonim – the sages of Spain and France, and the Acharonim; Sefer Nachalat Binyamin and Sefer HaLekket by Rabbi Yosef Ginzburg. Offenbach, 1716.
Unique work with alphabetically arranged rules divided into sections, with the addition of Nachalat Binyamin V’Sha’ar Mefarshim .
The author, Rabbi Yosef Ginzburg, a son-in-law of Rabbi Shmuel Shmelke Zach of Ostroh, was a rabbi in Chelm, Brisk and Ostroh.
Rare sefer .
To the best of our knowledge, this sefer has never been offered at auction.
With a bookplate from: Chevrat Lomdei Yediot Toratiyot. Reishit Chochmah, Miknat Kessef, Amsterdam, with a handwritten supplement.
[2], 88, 91-96 leaf, 13.5 cm.
Fine condition. Tears in the upper corners of several of the last leaves. Simple binding.
The renowned sefer Mishlei Shu’alim by the complete sage Rabbi Berachyah HaNakdan, beautifully reprinted. Berlin, 1756.
Mishlei Shu’alim is an anthology of parables composed and compiled by Rabbi Berachyah ben Natrona’i HaNakdan in the 13th century. Some of the parables appear earlier in the sources. The anthology consists of 107 parables with the fox depicted as a sly animal from whom people can learn important morals.
Rabbinic signature at the beginning of the sefer : Michel son of Rabbi Aryeh Leib of Lissa. The final leaf bears a very beautiful notation, in which the sefer is gifted as mishloach manot on Purim of 1866 “To my beloved friend, the shepherd among the roses, Rabbi Ya’akov Falk, from Yuzpa Edelstein. Additional notations.
Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of Rabbi Berachyah ben Natrona’i HaNakdan (also known as R’ Kreshbihu HaNakdan) .
61, 24 leaf. 16 cm.
Fine condition. Aging stains. Minimal worming perforations. Beautiful antique leather binding, partially detached, with a blemish at the edge of the spine.
Sefer Messilat Yesharim – topics in mussar and fear of Heaven by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato – the Ramcha”l. Sefer Derech Etz Chayim appears at the end of this sefer . Shklov, 1795. Especially rare edition.
When this book reached the Vilna Gaon, he stated that a new light had descended to the world, and due to his great appreciation for it, he purchased it for a rendil (= a gold dinar). Rabbi Y. Maltzan, in his introduction to Derech Hashem, states that he heard from gedolim in the name of the Gr”a, who said at the time that if the author were alive, he would have gone by foot to Italy to greet him. He also states that the Gr”a would review it often.
Rabbi Yechezkel Sarna, in his introduction to the sefer Messilat Yesharim – im Iyunim brings a tradition in the name of the Gr”a who said that until Chapter 11, there is not a single extraneous word in the sefer ! Rabbi Yerucham of Mir would say to his disciples ” Sefer Messilat Yesharim is built on all the Ramcha”l’s sefarim written on Kabbalistic doctrine, but he drew the topics down and wrote about them using language closer to what we comprehend, such that when we study it, we imagine that we can relate to it” ( Sefer Da’at Chochmah U’Mussar , Part I, p. 249)
Ben Menachem, Kitvei Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato 133.
Ya’ari, HaDefus HaIvri B’Shklov 61.
52 leaf, approximately 16 cm. Oriental owner’s signature.
Fine-very fine condition. Worming perforations. Aging stains. Borderline page cuts in most of the sefer ; some of the leaves have slight blemishes at the edge of the text. New binding.
Sefer Messilat Yesharim – topics in mussar and fear of Heaven by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato – the Ramcha”l. Poritsk, R’ Shlomo b”r Chanina Press, 1816. Rare edition.
When this book reached the Vilna Gaon, he stated that a new light had descended to the world, and due to his great appreciation for it, he purchased it for a rendil (= a gold dinar). Rabbi Y. Maltzan, in his introduction to Derech Hashem , states that he heard from gedolim in the name of the Gr”a, who said at the time that if the author were alive, he would have gone by foot to Italy to greet him. He also states that the Gr”a would review it often.
Rabbi Yechezkel Sarna, in his introduction to the sefer Messilat Yesharim – im Iyunim brings a tradition in the name of the Gr”a who said that until Chapter 11, there is not a single extraneous word in the sefer ! Rabbi Yerucham of Mir would say to his disciples ” Sefer Messilat Yesharim is built on all the Ramcha”l’s sefarim written on Kabbalistic doctrine, but he drew the topics down and wrote about them using language closer to what we comprehend, such that when we study it, we imagine that we can relate to it” ( Sefer Da’at Chochmah U’Mussar , Part I, p. 249)
Ben Menachem, Kitvei Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato 136.
Ya’ari, HaDefus HaIvri B’Poritsk 28.
34 leaf, approximately 18 cm. Several handwritten revisions.
Fine-very fine condition. Stains. Light tears in the upper margins of several leaves, some with slight damage to the title. Creases in some leaves. New binding.
Shulchan HaTahor. Abbreviated Tarya”g Mitzvot L’HaRamba”m as arranged by the Shach, divided by the thirty days of the month, with supplements from the gemara, Zohar and more, by Rabbi Nissim Zerachiah Azoulay. Yisrael Beck Press. Safed, 1836. First edition.
Yisrael Beck printed only six sefarim in Safed. He then moved to Jerusalem where he reestablished his press. This sefer was actually the last he printed in Safed, and there are those who found a reference for this in the calculation of the year detail which includes the word ‘ירושלים’ as a hint that he was planning on moving to Jerusalem.
The final leaves bear a five-year calendar.
Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of the author, Rabbi Nissim Zerachiah Azoulay, only son of Rabbi Avraham Azoulay, son of the Chid”a .
44 leaf, 14 cm.
Moderate condition. Restored light blemishes in several individual leaves. Aging stains. Fabric binding.
Volume 1:
* Sefer Chorev – the source of each and every mitzvah in the Torah, the reasons for the mitzvahs, and how the reason for each mitzvah can be found in all of its details, through the latest poskim , by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. Altona, 1837. First edition.
This is the author’s first work. The author completed writing this work in 1835, when he was only 27 years old, and while still serving as rabbi of Oldenburg. However, he could not find a Jewish publisher who was willing to take on this work considering the economic risk of printing such a large sefer , given the difficult financial condition of German Jewry. Rabbi Hirsch therefore turned to a non-Jewish printer in Altona who was unfamiliar with the Jewish market. However, this printer was also concerned about finances and requested that Rabbi Hirsch publish a small trial booklet first. Rabbi Hirsch published his famous work Iggerot Tzafun [ Nineteen Letters ] in Altona in 1836. Following the success of this work, the publisher agreed to print Chorev in 1837.
The purpose of this sefer was not to rule practical halachah, but to draw Jewish youth closer to Torah and Jewish tradition. However, over time, it became German Jewry’s “Shulchan Aruch.” The sefer was written in a very high level literary German. With several Hebrew quotations. Rabbi Hirsch subtitled his sefer ‘an attempt to explain the Jewish people’s Torah.’ The sefer was translated into several languages over the years, and printed in many editions.
This first edition is extraordinarily rare.
Originally: 800, XVI pp, 20 cm. Lacking one title page at the beginning and the final leaf of the indices.
Fine condition. Beautiful handwritten dedication. Aging stains. Two detached leaves. Reinforcements in the margins of the title page. Original binding, partially detached, with chafing, and with the title of the book and the author’s name imprinted on the spine.
Volume II:
* Neunzehn Briefe über Judenthum : als Voranfrage wegen Herausgabe von “Versuchen” desselben Verfassers “über Israel und seine Pflichten” / herausgegeben von Ben Usiel – Iggerot Tzafun by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. Altona, 1836. Nineteen Letters on Judaism : As an early trial by the author of On Israel and its Obligations / edited by Ben Uziel. 111 p, vii pp. 20 cm.
* Cherev BaTziyun: oder, Briefe eines jüdischen Gelehrten und Rabbinen über das Werk: “[Horev] Versuche über Jissroels Pflichten in der Zerstreuung von S.R. Hirsch …” : nebst einer Abhandlung über die Möglichkeit einer Abschaffung bestehender Gebräuche im Judenthum vom orthodoxen Standpunkte / herausgegeben durch M.S. Charbonah . Leipzig, 1839. XII, 43 pages, 20 cm.
* ste Mittheilungen aus Naphtali’s Briefwechsel / herausgegeben von Ben Usiel [pseud.] Naphtuli Naphtali (in the Hebrew). Altona, 1838.
* Postscripta zu den unter dem Titel [Herev beziyyon] erschienenen Briefen eines jüdischen Gelehrten und Rabbinen über das Werk: [Horev] / von dem Verfasser des [Horev] Altona, 1840. 52 pp, 20 cm.
* Additional booklets in German. Work by Dr. Avraham Geier and more.
Fine condition. Stamp and notations. Aging stains. (Original?) binding – dismantled and lacking the spine.
Samson Raphael Hirsch, Jubiläums-Nummer. Half-jubilee celebratory edition published to mark the 25th anniversary of Rabbi Hirsch’s passing. Essays, poems, biography and bibliography about the path and life of Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch. Frankfurt am Main, 1908.
Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch.
56 pp, 28×37 cm. Shiny leaves accompanied by pictures. The book opens with a beautiful portrait of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch covered with a very thin paper.
Very-very fine condition. New binding.
Sharp controversy in the Hebron community – dispute about the city’s kollel funds, with a profound description of the difficult condition of Hebron’s Jews, and many details about the relationship between the communities in Jerusalem and in Hebron.
In 1854, the people of Hebron decided to appoint philanthropist R’ Yosef Shalom of Baghdad to manage the city’s Kollels due to their having fallen into deep debt. The situation did not improve, so city rabbis began demanding reports of income and expenses from Rabbi Yosef Shalom. When there was no response, they turned to Jerusalem’s rabbis for assistance. The latter demanded a detailed report, but this demand was also not heeded. Given that he was a British citizen, Rabbi Yosef Shalom turned to the consul for help. However, those who worked against him also turned to the British with proof that he lied and that he was not a British citizen. During this episode, Rabbi Raphael Yisrael Elyakim and Rabbi Moshe Kimchi, who were active in this affair, were imprisoned and freed after three months, after many efforts.
R’ Yosef Shalom, the Ben Ish Chai’s cousin, was excommunicated by the rabbis, Ashkenazim and Sephardim alike. He authored Edut B’Yehosef in which he placed blame on his opponents. A response to his claims was published in Kuntress Shever Posh’im authored by Rabbi Yehudah Papo.
Bibliographically unknown publication signed by the leaders of the Hebron community who sided with R’ Yosef Shalom, written very sharply and signed by 24 members of the Hebron community, including by members of the renowned Kastel, Kargal and Turjeman families.
Even the known publications from this affair are rare. For more about these events, refer to A. Ben Ya’akov, Yehudei Bavel B’Eretz Yisrael , pp. 24-25, Sefer Chevron 1970 pp. 145-147. Sh. HaLevi, HaSefarim HaIvri’im SheNidpesu BiYerushalayim , 62.
Precise details of this dispute are not sufficiently clear, and there are several versions of it. This publication will presumably shed important light on the affair.
More material enclosed.
[3] pp, 29 cm.
Moderate-fine condition. Aging stains. Tears along the folds and the margins, without lack in the text.
Volume with four rare compilations dealing with the shemittah controversy in 1909-1910 between the Ridba”z and Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook. Emotional controversy between two prominent individuals in the Land of Israel at the time. As can be seen, the booklets were written and printed in quick succession and some include comments on other compilations printed just a short time earlier. All of the booklets are uncommon; some are very rare.
Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for details of the kuntressim .
From the library of the pious gaon Rabbi Yosef Segal Horowitz, rosh yeshivah of Chiddushei HaRi”m for several decades.
The four booklets are bound together.
Overall fine condition. Delicate paper, tiny tears in the margins of some of the leaves. Stains. The front binding is lacking; the back binding is detached and blemished.
Ohr HaEmet – letters on Sefer Chayyei Olam by Rabbi Meir Lerner, by Rabbi Shimon Tzvi Deutch.
Regarding the controversy about those whose bodies were ordered to be burnt – whether the ashes must be buried, and with respect to removing graves from where the authorities want to build a public road.
Several works were written about this controversy. In this one, the author opposed Rabbi Moshe Lerner’s opinion – himself opposed to what Rabbi Chanoch Ehrentrau, rabbi of Munich, had to say on the matter.
56 pp. Jacket cover in Hebrew and in German. 22 cm.
Fine condition with the exception of slight blemishes in the jacket binding.
LeDor Acharon – work relating to the final generation what the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada did in the holy war against the new rectifiers, a milchemet mitzvah for the sake of the purity of the Jewish family, with letters, articles, and protests from gedolei Yisrael . The clear halachah is that there is no condition nor sending a get at the time of marriage. Edited, arranged and published by the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada.
Historically important work summarizing the battle against the recommendation by the Conservatives in America to send divorces before the chuppah, due to takkanat agunot . This recommendation was vigorously rejected by all gedolei Yisrael in Europe and the United States.
[2], 114 pp. 21 cm.
Very fine condition.
