Sermon in the handwriting of the “Ben Ish Chai” regarding repentance stemming from fear of G-d and repentance stemming from love.
Specifications: [24] pages, paper. 13×10 cm. Characteristic Sephardic handwriting with erasures and corrections. About 18-22 lines on a page.
Background: Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad (1833-1909) was the author of the Ben Ish Chai and the leading Sephardic sage in his time. His father was Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim ben Rabbi Moshe Chaim, rabbi of Baghdad. He was a disciple of Rabbeinu Abdallah Somech, and was known already in his youth for his genius and righteousness. He began sermonizing in the Great Synagogue when he was only 26-years-old and continued giving Shabbat and holiday sermons for about fifty years. Thousands of people gathered to hear his unique four-to-five hour sermons. His fame for his expertise in the hidden and revealed Torah reached all corners of the world and he was noted for his sanctity. In 1869, he travelled to Eretz Yisrael to pray at the graves of the righteous people buried there. It was then Divinely revealed to him that he stemmed from the root of the soul of Binyahu ben Yehoyada, and the titles of many of his works relate to this information as such: Ben Ish Chai, Ben Ish Chayil, Ben Yehoyada, Rav Pe’alim, Od Yosef Chaim and more.
Condition: Very fine. New, magnificent leather binding within a slipcase. Minimal stains.