Manuscript, bakashot and piyyutim. [Meknes, Morocco, 19th century].

Pocket format. Cursive Western script. Throughout the volume, decorated initial panels and conclusions of piyyutim, in fine arabesques, in a characteristic Moroccan style. Purple ink incorporated on some pages.

On first leaf (endpaper), ownership inscription in large letters: "Refael Toledano". At top of following leaf (beginning of piyyutim), another ownership inscription: "Refael Toledano".

At end of manuscript: "Awesome prayer for salvation from the evil inclination", and "Undoing of a dream, tried and true".

On several leaves, inscriptions from a later period, including piyyutim, index, ownership inscriptions and more.

[105] leaves. Approx. 11 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, including dampstains. Tears, defects and wear, affecting text in several places. Original leather binding, with defects.

Provenance:

1. Abensour Family Collection, Fez, Morocco.

2. Victor Klagsbald Collection – Morocco, no. 53.

Reference: Victor Klagsbald, Catalogue des manuscrits marocains de la collection Klagsbald, Paris, 1980, pp. 113-115. See this source for a list of piyyutim.

Manuscript, Kinot, haftarah for Tishah BeAv, with Judeo-Arabic translation, Qissat Asarah Harugei Malchut and Qissat Yosef. [Morocco, ca. 19th century].

Western script, by several writers. On p. 13b, signature of scribe: "Avraham Marili"; on pp. 32a and 45b signatures: "Chaim Assaraf"; and on p. 32b, signature of writer: "Chaim Wachnis".

Original leather binding, made in Morocco by R. Yosef son of R. Moshe Abuchatzeira of Fez. At front and back of binding, decoration inscribed: "This is my work, Yosef son of R. Moshe Abuchatzeira" (regarding the man and his bookbinding work, see: R. Sh. Z. Miyara, Geonei Mishpachat Abuchatzeira, I, 2014, pp. 121-123).

52 written leaves (and many blank leaves). Lacking leaves at beginning. 14.5 cm. Fair condition. Stains, tears and wear. Detached leaves. Original leather binding, with defects, partially detached.

Provenance:

1. Abensour Family Collection, Fez, Morocco.

2. Victor Klagsbald Collection – Morocco, no. 33.

Reference: Victor Klagsbald, Catalogue des manuscrits marocains de la collection Klagsbald, Paris, 1980, p. 75.

Manuscript (4 pages), novellae and halachic pilpul on the Torah, most from the teachings of R. Yehonatan Eibeshitz. [Ashkenazic lands, ca. second half of 18th century].

Two leaves from a notebook in Ashkenazic script, apparently written by one of the disciples of "the Gaon, my master and teacher" R. Yehonatan Eibeshitz, including four complete passages:

• Novellae regarding the Pesach offering and intercalation.

• Two pages of a sermon for a bar mitzvah relating to Birkat HaMazon and the recitation for Bikkurim, "by my master and teacher, the great Gaon, author of Kr[eti] UP[leti]" – parallels to the basic ideas appear in Midrash Yehonatan, Ekev (section 178).

• Humorous Purim idea "by the above Gaon, my teacher and master", on the obligation to drink on Purim – a parallel to the basic idea (slightly different) appears in Yaarot Devash (homily 17).

• Novellae on Parashat Matot [by the writer himself], regarding the virtue of Pinchas and the kabbalistic idea that Pinchas attained the soul of Nadav and Avihu, also mentioning ideas from his youth.

[2] leaves, written on both sides (numbered 4-5 and connected with remains of string from notebook). 21.5 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, wear and tears to margins.

Manuscript, Klach Pitchei Chochmah, kabbalistic principles by R. Moshe Chaim Luzzatto – the Ramchal. [Eastern Europe], 1819.

Copying of the work in neat Ashkenazic cursive script. The main text is written in "windows", with the commentary written around it on the rest of the page. The beginning of the first page is dated: "Isru Chag, Pesach 1819".

Klach Pitchei Chochmah was the main kabbalistic work of the Ramchal printed at the time. It was first printed in Korets, 1785, by R. Shlomo Lutzker, a disciple of the Maggid of Mezeritch (the preface to the book was first printed several years earlier, as Derech Etz HaChaim, at the end of Mesilat Yesharim, Zhovkva, 1766).

R. Aharon Marcus, scholar of Chassidut, writes that the present work was preserved thanks to the Maggid of Mezeritch, who encouraged its publication by his disciple R. Shlomo Lutzker, author of Divrat Shlomo (Keset HaTorah, Jerusalem 2016, p. 27).

The Korets edition includes an approbation by R. Yaakov Yosef of Ostroh, disciple of the Maggid of Mezeritch (known as Rav Yeibi; see Encyclopedia LaChassidut, p. 267), who esteemed the Ramchal highly, and writes in the name of the Maggid of Mezeritch: that "his generation were not worthy of understanding his righteousness and temperance, and therefore many of our people, due to their great ignorance, spoke unbefittingly of the righteous man… And see what a great man attests… he can be relied upon, and the rumors may cease…".

[54] leaves. 21 cm. Light bluish paper. Good-fair condition. Wear and creases. Many stains and fading of ink. New binding.

Manuscript, Zera Aharon, responsa work on the laws of terefot, with homilies, handwritten and signed by the author, R. Yeshayah Chananiah HaKohen Katz. [Košice, ca. 1916-1918].

Title page at beginning of manuscript: "Zera Aharon on Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah, from section 29 to 135… And I hope that this book will be of benefit even to the great ones in the land… Yeshayah Chananiah Katz, residing here in Košice". On leaf before title page, his stamp (in Hebrew and Latin characters): "Yeshayah Katz, residing here in Košice – Rabiber Saje Katz D. Z. Kassa".

Another volume of this work was auctioned by Kedem (catalog 51 part 1, Tamuz 2016, lot 238); the author refers to it on p. 19b of the second sequence.

At the beginning of the manuscript is an approbation of R. Eliezer Chaim Deutsch, Rabbi of Bonyhád, dated Elul 1916. In the approbation, he writes that R. Shmuel Engel of Radomyshl also gave an approbation to the book. Under the approbation is a note by R. Eliezer Chaim Deutsch, "regarding his question… on the Gaon of Buchach…".

On p. 54b: "I begin to write the laws of terefot of the lungs, Lag BaOmer, 18th Iyar, 1916". On leaves 148-150, copying of a letter from R. Eliezer Chaim Deutsch, dated 26th Elul 1916 (three days before R. Deutsch's passing).

On leaves 224-226 appears a homily entitled Bigdei Kehunah (on page headers). The last three leaves of the manuscript have a separate pagination, with a lengthy discourse (homily or introduction) also including biographical details about the author: "…He Who has mercy on the creations had mercy on me and extracted me from the world of business, from the chains of occupation, to place the burden of Torah and mitzvot upon my shoulders, to learn, teach, guard, perform and fulfill…" (p. 1b); "Since moreover, I have not yet merited to have live offspring, and our only daughter [Esther] left us in the eighth year of her life on Rosh Chodesh Tamuz 1895" (p. 2a).

On p. 12b, sermon for Pidyon HaBen delivered in Košice, Isru Chag Shavuot 1915. On p. 16a, sermon delivered in Košice, second day of Sukkot, 1915. On p. 21a, sermon delivered on Tuesday, Re'eh, 1914, on the birthday of Emperor Franz Joseph. On p. 24a, sermon delivered in Košice on Shabbat Teshuvah, 1916. On p. 26b, sermon delivered in Košice at Seudah Shelishit, Yitro, 1917. On p. 28a, sermon delivered on Shabbat Teshuvah, 1917. On p. 14a, citation from sermon delivered by R. Shimon Sofer when appointed Rabbi of Cracow.

Towards the end (leaf 29), he begins to recount the death of his daughter Esther, and his reason for authoring the book: "Now dear reader, surely you will aim your speech at me: 'See what this Jew brought… Who are you to nest up high to be an author of books and to admonish us?'… I admit without shame that I am no better than you… and see what happened to me, for my only daughter, the girl Esther – I had one girl, and no son or daughter apart from this girl – and due to my many sins, even this one did not remain for me in this world, but in the eight year of her life she departed from me… And therefore I cry… that I remain with no live offspring… and who will have mercy on my soul after a hundred years?... Therefore I have dared, come what may, and took upon myself to bring merit to the public my entire life… And I named the book Zera Aharon, because I come from the seed of Aaron, both on my father's and my mother's side… And may this book be my consolation so that my name not be lost from the Jewish people, G-d forbid. And if anyone studies this book of mine, even once in a month, may it protect my soul so as not to fall into the pit of destruction… The words of one who sits in the dust at the feet of the righteous and the sages, Yeshayah Chananiah Katz, residing here in Košice".

He later mentions his father Moshe Shimshon Katz and his mother Toivah, a descendant of R. Natan Shapiro, the Megaleh Amukot. He concludes by recounting a story about his ancestor the Megaleh Amukot which he heard from his uncle R. Avraham Shapiro HaKohen of Bardejov.

There are several indications in the manuscript that the author intended to print the book. On p. 222b are two signatures committing to purchase the book after its printing: "Baruch Koppel of Tășnad" and "Yeshayah Halzer of Sălaj".

On endpaper before title page, inscription in Romanian: "This book is a prayer book and shall remain in the possession of R. Katz", signed by the general of Carei, with stamp of the Carei headquarters. This may have been during the Romanian conquest of Carei during World War I, where the author was apparently residing after he left Košice (some of his writings from Carei in 1918-1919 are mentioned in the second part of the work, sold in the abovementioned Kedem auction).

The author,
R. Yeshayah Chananiah Katz of Tarnów (Poland-Galicia) lived for about 20 years in Dukla and already in 1896 corresponded on halachic issues with well-known rabbis. A responsum from 1896 appears in Zichron Tzvi section 9, addressed to "the erudite, exceptional young man… R. Yeshayah Katz… here in Dukla". During World War I, he was appointed Rabbi of Košice and in 1920 moved to Bucharest, where he served as Rabbi of the Orthodox community.

[1], 17-235 leaves; 1-30 leaves. 20 cm. Good condition. Stains. Wear. Detached gatherings. New binding (detached) and slipcase.