“My disciple, my close associate, my beloved; [whose] place is blessed. The honorable Baruch, nero yair ” (The Chatam Sofer, in a responsum)
Lengthy manuscript [approximately 140 pages], complete and loaded with halachic and aggadic novellae and personal notations. Handwritten by father and son, among the Chatam Sofer’s most prominent disciples, the sacred gaon Rabbi Ya’akov Baruch Frankel-Ba”ch (Englander) of Kalov, and his step-son Rabbi Ya’akov Englander (Frankel). Including novellae they themselves heard from the Chatam Sofer and from his father-in-law, the gaon Rabbi Akiva Eiger, some different from the printed text. Hungary, 1859-1831.
Appearing in the ledger, inter alia , is a question sent to the Chatam Sofer about the signs of etrogim, and the Chatam Sofer’s reply.
Question to the Chatam Sofer and Rabbi Nachum Tribach, av beit din of Nikolsburg, with words written by Rabbi Nachum. Regarding the kashrut of the stakefish[?]. This issue broke out as a result of the old shtril vatik fish permitted by Aharon Hariner. In the notebook there is an unknown approach of the Chatam Sofer regarding the kashrut of the fish.
A description of his studies by the Chatam Sofer: ‘Father of the entire Diaspora and only son of the Sacred Shechinah.’
Eulogy delivered by Rabbi Ya’akov Baruch for his teacher, the Chatam Sofer. Eulogies for other gedolei Torah and more.
Personal recollections related by the writer about the ways of the Chatam Sofer, his esteemed rabbi, about his ways of instruction and the wonders he enacted.
Passages from the Chatam Sofer’s will, with some specific differences from that which appears in print.
“What I heard from the gaon M’ Akiva Eiger ztz”l, av beit din of Poznań, on a sugya in Gittin p. 83b ” Modeh R”A B’Megaresh Ishto … ”
“And my son, the young man, the excellent bridegroom, Ya’akov wrote kal vachomer the Adm”o the true gaon, the pious tzaddik, sacred and pure, Rabbi Moshe , av beit din and lecturer in Pressburg. He responded as follows …”
Rabbi Yehudah Leib Bialer, in his book: Min HaGenazim: Teur shel Kitvei Yad (Jerusalem, Part III p. 112 onward) describes this manuscript. An excerpt follows:
“Collection in a notebook including Talmudic novellae, halachic responsa, pesukim from the Torah, derashot and eulogies, lists and family recollections. The authors: Rabbi Yaakov Baruch Frankel-Ba”ch and his adopted son, Yaakov of Kalocsa Kalov in Hungary. Both of them were among the students of the Gaon Rabbi Moshe Sofer, rabbi of Pressburg, author of Chatam Sofer . Cursive Ashkenazic script from the early 19th century. Among the Hungarian sefarim that survived the Holocaust. The notebook was written alternately and skipping around by the two above-mentioned authors, from 1831 to 1859, without editing and without arrangement by topic. It contains important historical material for the research on the rabbinate in Hungary during that period.”
Later on, Rabbi Y. L. Bialer goes into great detail about the topics this manuscript discusses, including halachically controversial topics, the Chatam Sofer’s responsa to him, novellae from Rabbi Akiva Eiger, and much, much more. There are also some differences from the printed version, for example:
“Copy of the Chatam Sofer’s eulogy for the victims of the earthquake in the Land of Israel in 1837, when many cities and villages in the Galilee were destroyed. This eulogy was printed in Sefer Torat Moshe in parashat Emor, but in this copy, there are linguistic differences, additions and omissions of words and sentences that were apparently in the copy the printers used, I will transcribe passages from the manuscript version that is more clear and better constructed than the printed version” ( Min HaGnazim , ibid).
Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of the sacred gaon Rabbi Ya’akov Baruch Frankel-Ba”ch and his step-son the sacred gaon Rabbi Ya’akov Englander .
[152] pp. 18×22 cm. Thick, high-quality paper.
Very fine condition. Aging stains.
For more about this important notebook, refer to Y. L. Bialer, Min HaGnazim , Jerusalem, 1975, Part III, pp, 112-126, 232-238, 247-260.