Shnei Luchot HaBrit (Shlah), by R. Yeshayah HaLevi Horowitz. Amsterdam: Immanuel son of Yosef Athias, 1698. Two title pages, the first engraved with an illustration by Avraham ben Yaakov HaGer (illustrator of the 1695 Amsterdam Haggadah).
Particularly fine copy, in early leather binding, with gilt decorations.
Signature on title page: "Yaakov de Pinto" [Torah scholar and prominent community member of the Hague in the 19th century]. Additional inscriptions, trimmed and deleted.
Shnei Luchot HaBrit contains many halachic novellae, kabbalistic principles, homiletics and ethics, and incorporates all realms of the Torah. The book was highly esteemed throughout the Jewish world, and its teachings are quoted in the books of leading poskim and kabbalists. Many renowned Chassidic leaders were extremely devoted to the study of the books of the Shlah.
This edition of the Shlah was printed in Amsterdam in 1698, the year the Baal Shem Tov was born, and Chassidic lore ties these two events. The Rebbe Rayatz of Lubavitch writes that the elaborate edition of the Shlah printed in the year "Nachat" ("gratification"; the numerical value of the Hebrew year 5458 [1698]) is an allusion to the heavenly gratification caused by the revelation of the holy book, leading to the birth of the Baal Shem Tov that year, a connection the Baal Shem Tov himself used to make.
[4], 422; 44; [12] leaves. 31 cm. Complete leaves; bright, high-quality paper. Colored edges. Good condition. Stains. Early leather binding, with gilt decorations, and color endpaper. Paper slip affixed to the endpaper, opposite the title page. Defects to binding (tears to edges of spine).
Bookplate of Mozes Heiman Gans.
