This wondrous sefer , Yisah Berachah , is observed by the Chid”a to be the only exception to the rule that anyone who composes a commentary on Rabbeinu Yerucham is damaged!
Sefer Yisah Berachah – elucidation and legal novellae on Netiv 22 ( hilchot kiddushin ) from the sefer Rabbeinu Yerucham by the gaon Rabbi Yehudah Shmuel Ashkenazi, known as Ba’al HaBatim . First edition. Livorno, 1822.
Lengthy handwritten dedication at the top of the title page, written by the author and signed with his illustrated signature: “This [gift] is for my soul friend, the honorable gvir … S. David Parjon… from me, the impoverished author, the youth sent by the sacred rabbis of the holy city of Tiberias, the youth Yehudah Shmuel Ashkenazi, ST”
Regarding the greatness and holiness of the sacred author of Yisah Berachah , one can learn from the words of the Chid”a – a contemporary of the author’s – who writes in his work Shem HaGedolim (entry 10:382) about this wondrous work: “The sefarim by Rabbeinu Yerucham are among the lofty hidden worlds. Commentaries may not be written on them. All the commentaries that were written on them were lost and their authors were injured or passed away at an early age, Heaven forbid.”
The author of Yisah Berachah is the only author who was not damaged by this effect of Rabbeinu Yerucham and he was able to complete Yisah Berachah and live another 27 years after its printing. This story is used by Maran Rabbeinu Ovadiah Yosef to prove (in his approbation to the new edition of Yisah Berachah ) the idea that an author who approaches a tzaddik’s work with the purpose of bringing merit to the masses will not encounter any harm is said about a work like this one.
The approbation by Livorno rabbis at the beginning of the sefer hints to this idea and write special blessings for the author: “May you double your life(span), for years of life, with a joyous heart, tranquil and confident, a thousand times more, May Hashem grant you success, with His approval, to live on the good Land resting between the boundaries, and merit seeing children and grandchildren …”
Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of the gaon Rabbi Yehudah Shmuel Ashkenazi .
[3] 211 leaf. 30 cm.
Fine condition. Aging stains. Single worming tunnel. Simple handmade binding, partially detached.