Zichron Yehudah , part one, called Pitchei Yehudah . Preface to Seder Taharot by Rabbi Yehudah Abelson. Vilna, 1851. From the library of the rabbi of the entire diaspora, the author of the Chafetz Chaim , with an owner notation in his hand.
Specifications: 24 leaves. 26 cm. Owner signature on the endpaper. Note written by the Chafetz Chaim himself: שייך לר’ ישראל מאיר נרו הכהן מראדין מעטירה. Including a handwriting expert’s confirmation.
Background: During the First World War, the Chafetz Chaim fled to Russia, with just a few books in his satchel. He lived for a period of time in the home of Rabbi Tzvi Yehudah Edelstein, Av Beit Din of Shumyachi. The Chafetz Chaim wrote his name in his books so that they wouldn’t get lost, but when he returned to Radin he left them as a gift for his host. This is one of the books that he owned and used for his Torah studies. The Chafetz Chaim’s library was not extensive. The few books that he did purchase caused him an element of regret, since their price cost him some of his life. The many books that he quotes in his famed Mishneh Berurah were often borrowed or quoted from his memory.
It is related in Ohr Elchanan (p. 239-240) that when Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman studied in the Kollel Kadshim in Radin with Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, they needed a rare book for their studies. They asked the Chafetz Chaim if he had this volume in his library, since he quoted it in the Mishneh Berurah. The Chafetz Chaim answered that he didn’t own the work, but had borrowed it from a certain rabbi when writing Mishneh Berurah . He added, “I somewhat regret the ones I do have on my bookcase.” Rabbi Elchanan wondered what he had meant, and he received an explanation on a return visit to the Chafetz Chaim: “Every book that I purchased with money cost me part of my life. I procured that money with hours of work and toil and that is a slice of my life …”
Condition: Fine. Aging stains. New, leather binding.