Auction No. 098
Holy books, Manuscripts, Rabbinical & Admors letters, Americana & Judiaca
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Volume of letters regarding a "Heter Meah Rabbanim" for a husband whose wife did not act like a proper Jewish woman, but refuses to accept a get.
Specifications: [3] pages, doubled leaf. 28x21 cm. [4] leaves with text on both sides, 21x17 cm. Sewn together with thread, loose stitches.
Unique features: The volume contains:
1> Description of the situation, and the psak of the rabbi permitting this "heter", Rabbi Dovid Raiz, Av Beit Din of Kolomea.
2> Approval for this heter by Rabbi Dovid HaLevi Horowiz, Av Beit Din of Stanislav.
3> Psakim from Jerusalem rabbis from 1930, with 100 signatures of Jerusalem rabbis and sages. Includes the signatures of Rabbi Zvi Pesach Frank; Rabbi Shimon Aharon Polanski of Teplyk; Rabbi Yosef Gershon Horowitz; Rabbi Eliyahu Re'em; Rabbi Chaim Yehuda Leib Auerbach; Rabbi Yisrael Isser ben Hagaon Rabbi Refael Shapiro; Rabbi Shmuel HaLevi Shenker; Rabbi Yechiel Michel Tukashinsky; Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak Wachtfogel, Rabbi Shimon Zvi Horowitz;, Rabbi Yehoshua Alter Waldman, Av Beit Din of Końskowola; Rabbi Yechiel Michel Horowitz and more.
Condition: Moderate-fine. Fold marks. Aging stains. Water damage, including damage to some of the text.
Sermons, ethical rebuke and aggadot of Chazal by Rabbi Mordechai son of Yisrael Isser of Deretchin, posek of the Chayei Adam chevra kadisha in Ostryna.
Specifications: 36 leaves. 20x13 cm.
Unique features: Fine hand, nice and organized. Very impressive illustrated architectural title page at the start of the manuscript colored in subdued shades. Index for the sermons at the conclusion. Leaves 30-33, short compilations.
Background: We have no information about the author. Ostryna was a prominent community near Vilna. Prominent personalities served as rabbis in this suburb, such as Rabbi Yaakov Zvi Shapiro, author of the Tiferet Yaakov, Beit Yaakov and Teharat HaShulchan; and Rabbi Avigdor Katz, author of Torat Avigdor and others.
Condition: Very fine. Minimal aging stains. New, red, cloth binding.
Sefer Harkavah. A work by Rabbi Eliyahu Bachur son of Asher Ashkenazi, in which he explains every foreign word and its conjugation in different conjugations. Transcription from the printed book, Venice, 1546.
Specifications: 18 leaves. 16x21 cm. Ashkenazi handwriting.
Unique Features: Printed books were still a rarity in the 17th and 18th centuries and the sums of money required to purchase them were often beyond what many Torah scholars could afford, therefore, we occasionally find transcriptions of printed books in order for them to be studied from. Before us is a pleasant transcription of a complete work. Ownership inscription: "Belongs to the young man [!] Yoel son of Rabbi Maddos".
Condition: Fine-very fine. Aging stains. Tiny tears on the last leaf. New cardboard binding.
Elucidations on the Perek Shira and Medrash Yilamdeinu [Tanchuma] in the handwriting of Rabbi Mordechai Henna, dayan in Hamburg and author of Aggadat Mordechai.
Specifications: [10] pages. 16x20 cm. Autograph.
Content: The first six pages feature the commentary on Perek Shira. These pages are titled "Shir Chadash", apparently the first name of the work. Rabbi Henna's epitaph reads, "Shirat Mordechai al Aggadita D'Shirata." The remaining four leaves are titled "Yilamdeinu;" he may have written a work with elucidations on the Medrash Tanchumah, which is also known as Medrash Yilamdeinu.
Background: Rabbi Mordechai Henna was a Rosh Yeshiva, dayan and darshan in Hamburg. He was a descendant of the Maharal of Prague and the Chavat Yair. In his first marriage, he was the son-in-law of Rabbi Shimshon Chassid, author of Nezirot Shimshon and mechuten with the Yaavetz. He supported him at the beginning of the controversy, until the printing of the Akitzat Akrav when he turned to support Rabbi Yehonatan Eibshutz. He was a dayan in Hamburg from 1724 until his death in 1777.
Rabbi Mordechai was a prolific writer who authored twelve works on all subjects of the Torah. However, only his haggada was printed Aggadat Mordechai (Amsterdam, 1777), and other excerpts of his work were published in various journals. Refer to: Chachmei Ah"u, p. 43-45; and Moriah, sixth year, issue 7, (67) Tevet, 1976, p. 9-12.
Condition: Fine-very fine. Minimal stains. All legible.
Sermons for Shabbat Chanuka delivered by Rabbi Yirmiyahu Loewe, Av Beit Din of Ujhely, between the years 1867-1874.
Specifications: [51] pages, 19x24 cm.
Unique Features: Impressive autograph.
Background: Rabbi Yirmiyahu Loewe - author of Divrei Yirmiyahu on tractate Kiddushin and more, son and disciple of Rabbi Binyamin Wolf, Av Beit Din of Werbau and author of Sha'arei Torah, son of Rabbi Elazar Loewe, author of Shemen Rokeach, one of the great Hungarian Rabbis. Born in 1811, Av Beit Din of Ujhely from 1855, died on April 4, 1874.
Condition: Very fine. A few stains. Most of the writing is legible. In a new luxurious leather binding.
A long commentary on the Megillah of Shir HaShirim in handwriting. Beginning of the 20th century.
Specifications: [210] pages. Paper leaves, 13x21 cm. Orderly Ashkenazi handwriting. The writer was not identified by a superficial examination.
Unique Features: A deep commentary, which explains and interprets King Solomon's parables and metaphors about the Jewish people.
Condition: Moderate-fair. Original faded binding, slightly dismantled. A few leaves are detached. Blemishes at the edges of some of the leaves.
Manuscript. An excerpt on parchment removed from its binding from Maimonides's monumental work the 'Mishneh Torah', from the Zemanim section. Germany, 13-14th century.
Specifications: [2] large attached leaves. Parchment. 23x29 cm. Ashkenazi handwriting on both sides of the leaves (the handwriting on the inner side is faded).
At the top of the excerpt is written: "Hilchot Megillah and Chanuka, Hilchot Shekalim", followed by chapter 1 of Hilchot Shekalim until almost the end of chapter 3, and Hilchot Megillah from near the beginning of chapter 1 until chapter 2.
Unique Features: Before us is an extremely early transcription of the 'Mishneh Torah' in a different order than is common today, in which Hilchot Megillah and Chanukah appear after Hilchot Kiddush HaChodesh and Ta'anit. There may also be changes of wording from the wording found today.
Condition: Moderate. Tears, mainly on the margins. A few stains. The writing on the inner pages is faded.
Manuscript. An excerpt from the work of the French Tosafists on tractate Shavuot, from the 14th-15th century.
Specifications: [1] leaf. Parchment. 14x18 cm. Small Ashkenazi handwriting in black ink on both sides of the parchment. A few deletions by the transcriber. The writing is clear and legible. The excerpt before us was copied from the Tosafot on tractate Shavuot, from page 17a, starting word "Oh ein tzorech" until page 18a starting word "D'i silka da'atech chayav".
Unique Features: An extremely early transcription of one of the Tosafists' works is before us. There may be differences in wording from the wording printed on the Babylonian Talmud.
Background: The Tosafists were sages from the period of the 'first scholars' [Rishonim], Torah scholars who wrote commentaries, known as Tosefot [lit. additions] on the tractates of the Babylonian Talmud, and on Rashi's commentary on the Talmud. Their activities spanned some two hundred years, over the 12th and 13th centuries. Most of them were from the ranks of Rashi's students in Germany and France with a few from England and Italy. The first Tosafists were Rashi's students, who wrote comments and novellae on his commentary. Over time, these additions increased until they became Tosefot on the Talmud.
Condition: Very fine. Very few aging stains.
An enormous emissary letter (shtar shadarut). Rabbi Elimelech Perlman, from the congregation of Austria and Galicia in Jerusalem, 1874. A large and impressive historical document.
Specifications: [1] double leaf, 38x54 cm. Signatures of the representatives of the kollel and the kollel's stamp.
Unique Features: Large and impressive. Written in scribal handwriting, on behalf of the kollel of natives of Austria and of Galicia, to the Rabbis and sages of Austria. The document describes the great suffering of the members of the kollel in Jerusalem: "We do not have a study hall to learn Torah in, not a synagogue to pray in, nor a house to host guests in, nor a house for visiting the sick, not a bathhouse or house for immersion, nor any other communal necessities, and we are exiled and wandering...scattered like a rejected lamb, and our souls are exhausted from this bitter exile". In the letter, the people of Jerusalem plead for the people of Austria to come to their aid, and to help them to establish the community and its essential institutions. They also mention the great merit of one who prays at the Western Wall, and who lives in Jerusalem and toils there in matters of the World to Come, on which the world stands.
Background: Rabbi Elimelech Perlman was born to his father Rabbi Yisrael Isser Perlman, a disciple of the 'Chozeh of Lublin', who served as the Rabbi of Rozwadów until around the year 1850. After his death, his wife Esther [whose first husband was the Rebbe Rabbi Shlomo Leib of Łęczna] immigrated to Israel with their young son Elimelech, to her father Rabbi Asher Kahana-Shapira, Av Beit Din of Żołynia. Rabbi Elimelech was among the founders of the Kollel Österreich, which later became Kollel Galicia. He loyally served the immigrants from Galicia until his final day. In addition to managing the Kollel, he was was also one of the heads of the Va'ad HaKlali and one of the city's important activists.
The first signatory on the contract is Rabbi Yisrael Yehuda son of Moharash of Krasnov [?]. This [apparently] is Rabbi Yisrael Yehuda Leib Buchner, son of the Rebbe Rabbi Shlomo of Krasnov. He was the primary disciple of Rabbi Shmuel Shmelke of Nikolsburg, and later of Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk [refer to: Alfasi 3, 598]. Rabbi Yisrael Yehuda immigrated to Israel and was active in the city's spiritual life. He died in 1886 and was buried on the Mount of Olives. Refer to: M. Wunder, Chachmei Galicia 1 446, and 188-189.
Condition: Folding marks, very fine condition.
A ledger of novellae on the Talmudic tractates of Brachot - Chulin.
Specifications: [28] leaves, paper, 10x17 cm, and a separate 12x15 cm leaf at the end, torn along the fold. Ashkenazi handwriting.
Unique Features: A sequence of novellae, most of them short. Each begins with a reference to the page in the Talmud. Many of the novellae discuss the Tosefot, the Maharsha and the Maharshal.
Condition: Moderate-fine. Aging stains, water stains which damage the writing, mainly on the first page and the margins of the following page. Not bound.
Specifications: [1] notebook [32] pages, 16x21 cm. Handwritten. Up to page 9 is a list of attendance and the names of the students who eat in the yeshiva's dining room, and from there on are literary works in Yiddish and Hebrew. The author's name is unknown.
[3] official paper leaves. 21x28 cm. Two of them from the T"T [a charitable organization run in the yeshiva by its students], and one of the yeshiva itself. The letters were written in the 1930's.
Unique Features: One of the T"T's letters was sent by the students: Gedaliah Eisman, later mashgiach in the Kol Torah Yeshiva, and Noach Shimonowitz, later Rosh Yeshiva of the 'Knesset Chizkiyahu' yeshiva.
Background: The 'Knesset Beit Yitzchak' yeshiva in Kamenitz was one of the most famous yeshivot in Lithuania. The yeshiva was headed by Rabbi Baruch Ber Leibowitz, author of 'Birkat Shmuel'.
Condition: Fine, a few tears and aging stains.
Rabbi Samson Refael Hirsch's manuscript featuring elucidations on chapters of Psalms (120-125), with references to various sources in Tanach.
Specifications: [10] pages, 28x22 cm. Manuscript in German (Deutsche Kurrentschrift). Rav Samson Refael Hirsch wrote this manuscript and the rest of his translation and elucidation on the 'Shir HaMa'alot' chapters in a series of articles printed in "Yeshurun", 1867. This manuscript was printed there, pages 1-11, 33-42.
Unique features: The manuscript is titled: "Die ie fuenfzehn Altjuedischen "Aufwaerts"- Lieder" (Fifteen ancient Jewish Shir Hama'alot), however it only features six of these Psalms (chapters 120-125). Each chapter of Psalms opens with a title (the essence of the chapter), followed by a translation and commentary, except for chapter 123, which has a commentary but no title or translation.
Background: Rabbi Samson Refael Hirsch (1808-1888) fashioned the "Torah im Derech Eretz" school of thought and a new Orthodoxy in Germany. He was one of the leading opponents of the Reform movement, which had spread at the time through many Jewish communities in Germany. When he was appointed rabbi of Frankfurt am Main in 1851, he began working to improve the spiritual conditions of the Jewish youth and exerted much effort to establish a Jewish school where the students would learn Torah and secular subjects. Rav Hirsch used his writings (in German, so that they would be more widely read) to pave paths to the hearts of Jewish youth so that they could overcome the spiritual challenges of the time. He notes his mission in his introduction to his articles: "To fill the spirits and souls with the thoughts of David".
Conditon: Very fine condition. New, elegant leather binding.