Ba’al Nefesh – Hilchot Niddah L’HaRa’ava”d with Hasagot HaRaza”h , Chiddushei HaRa”n and glosses from Sefer Todat Shlamim . Berlin, 1762. Copy with extra-special pedigree. Signatures, stamps and various notations along the length of the volume, attesting to the book being in the possession of geonei olam .
This is the first edition of the work on its own (printed at first with the Rashb”a’s Avodat HaKodesh , Venice, 1602), and the first edition in which the glosses were printed together with the work (all the supplements were printed in Sefer Todat Shlamim , Venice, 1741).
Signature on the title page by the gaon Rabbi Ya’akov Koppel Lichtenstein, av beit din of Betlen, brother of the sacred gaon Rabbi Hillel Lichtenstein of Kolomyye, who was granted a heter hora’ah by the Divrei Chaim of Sanz – without an examination (refer to the biography in the Hebrew catalog text): “I was privileged to this precious sefer , the small one, Koppel Lichtenstein.” His son’s stamp appears at the beginning of the volume: “Yosef Lichtenstein son of Rabbi Ya’akov Koppel z”l, Sighet.”
Signature by the gaon Rabbi David Deutch, av beit din of Ir Chadash, close friend of the Chatam Sofer and one leading students of the Noda BiYehudah (The Noda BiYehudah cites about 40 responsa): “Hashem has granted me this, the small one David Deutch, bought here in the great Jewish city of Prague.” Leaf 9 features another of Rabbi David’s signature, using the pagination letter: “דוד דיי[ט]ש”.
Additional signature on the title page: “The youth Moshe Deutch.” Handwritten inscription on the final leaf: “This sefer belongs to [many honorifics] Rabbi Mendel, may his light shine on …” Additional handwritten notation at the beginning of the volume: “… I studied under … Rabbi Yosef Lichtenstein in Sighet in 1902 … the youth Chaim Ezra …”
Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for brief biographies of the gaon Rabbi Ya’akov Koppel Lichtenstein and the gaon Rabbi David Deutch .
[1], 74 leaf. 20 cm.
Poor-moderate-moderate condition. Worming perforations and tunnels, with damage to the text in several lines.
Bound with:
Peirush al Yonah V’al Rabb”ch (both with the text) and on several aggadahs, by the pious gaon Rabbeinu Eliyahu of Vilna. Prague, 1810. Second edition. Incomplete copy. This edition omits the Gr”a’s sons’ foreword as well as that by Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin, and adds approbations by gedolei hador – Rabbi Elazar Fleckeles, Rabbi Shmuel Segal Landau, Rabbi Mordechai Bennet and Rabbi Yosef Cottenflan. [16] leaf, lacking leaves [17-18]. Poor-moderate condition. Tears with lack in the margins of the last leaves. Worn paper.
Bound with:
Michtav Eliyahu – commentary on Meggilot Shir HaShirim and Chabakuk (both with the text) by the pious gaon Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna. Prague, 1911. Incomplete copy, blemished.
Incomplete copy. Originally: [4], 24 leaf. Present here are leaves [9]-24 leaves only. Poor condition. Tears with lack in several leaves, some with about half the leaf lacking.
Provenance: Library of the mighty gaon Rabbi Yosef Segal Horowitz, rosh yeshivah of the Chiddushei HaRi”m yeshivah for about seventy years. He was a wonderful personality admired by the gedolei hador in general and the Gerrer Rebbes through the generations in particular. He was one of the final students of the Mir Yeshiva in Shanghai. He passed away in Elul 2022 at the age of 102 years.