Notepad of the sermons by the maggid of Horodna, Rabbi Aryeh Leib Bernstein, rabbi and maggid meisharim (preacher) in Horodno (Grodno), and then the community of Grodno natives in London. Horodno-London, 1901. Entirely handwritten by him. To the best of our knowledge, this manuscript has not been printed.
Approximately forty sermons delivered on Shabbat and festivals and various occasions beginning c. 1901. Including a eulogy for Queen Victoria (leaf 19). Likewise, there are sermons given to various societies, associations and synagogues in London (Machzike Hadath, Tikvath Zion, Degel Zion and others.) One of the leaves is older, apparently from his youth, entitled [Hebrew] “A Parable I Told in Vilna on Shabbat Rosh Chodesh”
The gaon Rabbi Aryeh Leib Bernstein served as rabbi and maggid meisharim in Horodna (occasionally called Grodno – a city in Belarus near the border with Poland and Lithuania, where the author of Yesod V’Shoresh HaAvodah and the gaon Rabbi Shimon Shkop lived and were active). Later in life, he was a rabbi and preacher for Grodno and Lodz natives in London. ‘And he disseminated Torah and its wisdom across the entire Jewish Diaspora’ (in the words of his son, in the foreword to his book Olam HaToshia , London, 1937).
[1] notebook containing approximately 136 pp, 12×20 cm. + there are [21] leaves of various sizes included. All in the hand of the maggid of Horodna.
Overall fine condition.