Auction 96 Early Printed Books, Chassidut and Kabbalah, Books Printed in Jerusalem, Letters and Manuscripts
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Postcard sent to R. Yosef Shalom Elyashuv (Elyashiv), with letters handwritten and signed by R. Chaim Kanievsky and his wife Rebbetzin Batsheva. Bnei Brak, [27th Tishrei, 1982].
In his letter, R. Chaim Kanievsky seeks to clarify the veracity of a ruling reported in R. Yosef Shalom's name disqualifying a lulav ending in a single leaflet, signing his name at the end.
In the margins of R. Chaim's letter, his wife Rebbetzin Batsheva sends her warm regards to all, with her signature. She then adds that she enjoyed her visit with them and that she hopes to meet again soon, signing her name a second time.
The letter was printed along with a facsimile in the periodical Yeshurun (XXVIII, Nisan 2013).
R. Chaim Kanievsky (1928-2022), leading rabbi of the present generation, only son of the Steipler Gaon, R. Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, and preeminent son-in-law of R. Yosef Shalom Elyashiv.
His wife, Rebbetzin Batsheva Kanievsky (1932-2012), eldest daughter of R. Yosef Shalom Kanievsky. The match between the two was concluded upon the advice of the groom's uncle, the Chazon Ish, who attested that as a daughter of a veritable Torah scholar, she was truly suited for him. R. Elyashiv later retold that when he consulted the Chazon Ish about the match, the latter praised the prospective groom profusely, even predicting that R. Chaim would one day be an outstanding Torah scholar renowned for his breadth of knowledge, just like the Rogatchover. When R. Elyashiv related this decades later, he added that at the time, it seemed to him that the Chazon Ish was overstating, as is customary for matchmaking, but in truth the prediction of the Chazon Ish was realized in full.
The Steipler, father of R. Chaim Kanievsky, held his mechutan R. Elyashiv in high regard, and would refer to him halachic questions and names to be mentioned in prayer and for blessings. He even sent people to be blessed by his daughter-in-law Rebbetzin Batsheva Kanievsky, as a woman of holy lineage. Over the years, her great abilities were publicized, and many experienced salvations as a result of her prayers and blessings. Thousands of women flocked to Rebbetzin Batsheva, seeking her heartfelt encouragement and wise counsel.
Postcard. 14.5 cm. 11 lines handwritten and signed by R. Chaim, and about 7 lines handwritten and signed by Rebbetzin Batsheva. Good condition. Stains and postmark stains.
![Collection of 18 letters on postcards, handwritten by R. Chaim Kanievsky. Bnei Brak, [1999-2001].Short, concise responses to](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale96/244_1.jpg "Eighteen Letters Handwritten by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky – Bnei Brak, 199")
![Collection of 18 letters on postcards, handwritten by R. Chaim Kanievsky. Bnei Brak, [1999-2001].Short, concise responses to](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale96/244_3.jpg "Eighteen Letters Handwritten by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky – Bnei Brak, 199")
![Collection of 18 letters on postcards, handwritten by R. Chaim Kanievsky. Bnei Brak, [1999-2001].Short, concise responses to](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale96/244_5.jpg "Eighteen Letters Handwritten by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky – Bnei Brak, 199")
![Collection of 18 letters on postcards, handwritten by R. Chaim Kanievsky. Bnei Brak, [1999-2001].Short, concise responses to](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale96/244_6.jpg "Eighteen Letters Handwritten by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky – Bnei Brak, 199")
![Collection of 18 letters on postcards, handwritten by R. Chaim Kanievsky. Bnei Brak, [1999-2001].Short, concise responses to](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale96/244_2.jpg "Eighteen Letters Handwritten by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky – Bnei Brak, 199")
![Collection of 18 letters on postcards, handwritten by R. Chaim Kanievsky. Bnei Brak, [1999-2001].Short, concise responses to](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale96/244_4.jpg "Eighteen Letters Handwritten by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky – Bnei Brak, 199")
Collection of 18 letters on postcards, handwritten by R. Chaim Kanievsky. Bnei Brak, [1999-2001].
Short, concise responses to various questions on Torah matters and halachic customs, sent to R.Y.B. Goldenthal of Kiryat Sefer. At the end of one of the letters R. Chaim writes: "I put your money in tzedakah, and if you want you can come and take it". In one of the letters he writes to him: "There are many details in your questions that are difficult to answer in writing; when you are in Bnei Brak we will speak, God willing". In another letter he writes: "I didn't really understand some of the questions, visit when you are in Bnei Brak" [this is what he habitually answered when the question was too complicated to answer in brief on a postcard].
On all of the postcards, the name of the sender "Chaim Kanievsky" and the name and address of the recipient are in R. Chaim Kanievsky's handwriting.
18 postcards. 14.5 cm. Overall good condition. Stains and postmarks.
Large assorted collection of over fifty letters written and signed by famous rabbis and Torah scholars. Eretz Israel and elsewhere, ca. 1920s-1990s.
See Hebrew description for list of rabbis.
51 letters. Varying size and condition. Overall good condition.
Collection of letters handwritten and signed by R. Shlomo Yosef Zevin – six letters with interesting contents, from various periods and addressed to various people.
• Letter to the Heichal HaTalmud yeshiva administration, in which R. Zevin suggests delivering a lecture on the commentaries on the Mishnah by R. Meir Simchah HaKohen of Dvinsk, author of Or Sameach, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his death. Tel Aviv, Elul 1936.
• Letter to R. Meir Berlin (Bar-Ilan) on a team working on editing a book being published by R. Berlin. Tel Aviv, 1935.
• Letter of R. Meir Bar-Ilan on the Union of Russian Refugee Rabbis. Jerusalem, Elul 1948.
• Letter (2 pages) to R. Yitzchak Eizik HaLevi Herzog, Chief Rabbi of Israel, who had asked him to examine a Yiddish translation of the Talmud. [Jerusalem], 1951.
• Letter to R. Yehudah Leib Levin, Chief Rabbi of Moscow, on transferring his mother Chayah Zevin's remains from her grave in Kiev (where she had been buried 40 years earlier), as the city's cemetery was about to be removed. [Jerusalem], Sivan 1963.
• Lengthy Torah letter to his grandson Nachum [Zevin]. Jerusalem, [Cheshvan] 1964.
R. Shlomo Yosef Zevin (1886-1978), a leading Chabad rabbi in Russia and Eretz Israel. Ordained by the Rogatchover and Rebbe Shemaryahu Noach Schneersohn of Babruysk, he succeeded his father as Rabbi of Kazimirovo and several other communities. He was a prolific writer, editor of the Talmudic Encyclopedia, and a member of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate Council.
6 letters, all on official stationery. Varying size and condition. Overall good condition.
Collection of documents, letters, posters and notices from the rabbinate and community institutions in Buenos Aires, in Hebrew and Yiddish, most addressed or related to R. Yaakov Fink, Rabbi of Argentina and Haifa. Buenos Aires and elsewhere, 1940-1970.
The items include:
• A Ketubah from Buenos Aires, 1941, with a confirmation signed and stamped by R. Yaakov Fink in 1952.
• Divorce document, approval of divorce and appointment of agent, from Buenos Aires, 1959, signed by R. Shmuel Yaakov Glicksberg, Rabbi of Buenos Aires, and other rabbis.
• Prayer for inauguration of the Jewish National Fund by R. Yaakov Fink. Typewritten.
• Printed poster, notice of a sermon by R. Yaakov Fink, vice president of the Mizrachi in Buenos Aires, on March 18, 1943. Yiddish.
• Handwritten notebook, congratulations for the wedding of R. Yaakov Fink in 1941, with dozens of signatures by rabbis and students of the Buenos Aires Torah school.
• Certificate for R. Yaakov Fink's activity as director of the Institute for Jewish Studies in Buenos Aires, from 1951.
• Letters sent to R. Yaakov Fink on rabbinic and communal matters.
R. Yaakov Fink (1902-1984) studied under R. Meir Arik and R. Yosef Engel, as well as in other renowned Galician yeshivas and the Berlin Rabbinical Seminary. At the start of the Holocaust in 1939, he fled to Argentina, where he was appointed Rabbi and began to establish yeshivas, Torah schools, mikvaot and other Jewish necessities. His Beit Din addressed many questions of divorce and agunot in the wake of the Holocaust. He later served as Rabbi of Brazil and again as Chief Rabbi of Argentina. In 1963 he immigrated to Eretz Israel and was appointed dayan and head of the Haifa Beit Din.
41 items. Varying size and condition.
Collection of letters and documents from rabbis and public figures, mainly from South America, most sent to R. Yaakov Fink from 1940-1986.
The letters include:
• Letter from R. Ze'ev Tzvi HaKohen Klein, Rabbi of Eisenstadt, Berlin and Buenos Aires. [Buenos Aires, ca. 1940s].
• Letter of R. Yeshayah David Briskman. Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), 1951.
• Two letters from R. Natan David Rosenblum of Apta. Avellaneda (Argentina), 1951-1955.
• Letter from R. Yehoshua Segal Deutsch, Rabbi of Adat Yisrael in Montevideo and Katamon. Jerusalem, 1953.
• Three letters from R. Shmuel Yaakov Glicksberg, Rabbi of Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires, 1958-1959.
• Ten letters from R. Nechemiah Berman, Chief Rabbi of Uruguay, including a letter of consolation addressed to R. Fink's family after his passing. Buenos Aires, 1964-1986.
• Three letters from R. Yosef Zolty, Rabbi of Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires, 1965.
• Two letters from the Sephardic Chief Rabbinate, signed by R. Moshe Chehebar. Buenos Aires, 1965.
• Letter from R. Yerachmiel Blumenfeld, Rabbi of Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), 1966.
• Two letters from R. Avraham Mordechai Hershberg, Rabbi of Mexico City and president of the Latin American Rabbinical Center. Mexico, 1968.
• Three letters from R. Shmuel Aryeh Levin, dean of the Chafetz Chaim yeshiva in Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires and Bnei Brak, 1969-1972.
• Letter from R. Yosef HaKohen Oppenheimer, Rabbi of the Achdut Yisrael community. Buenos Aires, 1972.
• And more.
R. Yaakov Fink (1902-1984) studied under R. Meir Arik and R. Yosef Engel, as well as in other renowned Galician yeshivas and the Berlin Rabbinical Seminary. At the start of the Holocaust in 1939, he fled to Argentina, where he was appointed Rabbi and began to establish yeshivas, Torah schools, mikvaot and other Jewish necessities. His Beit Din addressed many questions of divorce and agunot in the wake of the Holocaust. He later served as Rabbi of Brazil and again as Chief Rabbi of Argentina. In 1963 he immigrated to Eretz Israel and was appointed dayan and head of the Haifa Beit Din.
33 items. Varying size and condition.
![Manuscript booklet (8 pages), two Torah novellae essays. Starobin, [ca. 1900s-1910s]. Especially fine writing [apparently by](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale96/249_1.jpg "Manuscript Torah Novellae Booklet – Starobin, Ca. 1900s-1910s")
![Manuscript booklet (8 pages), two Torah novellae essays. Starobin, [ca. 1900s-1910s]. Especially fine writing [apparently by](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale96/249_3.jpg "Manuscript Torah Novellae Booklet – Starobin, Ca. 1900s-1910s")
Manuscript booklet (8 pages), two Torah novellae essays. Starobin, [ca. 1900s-1910s].
Especially fine writing [apparently by a young man]. First four pages containing a pilpul on yibum and gid hanasheh. A second essay is concerned with halachic documents and presumption of ownership.
The script and style appear to belong to a young man, but the penetrating understanding and comprehensive knowledge displayed give the impression of being written by one of the prodigy sons of R. David Feinstein, Rabbi of Starobin, who was appointed Rabbi of the city in 1907: R. Yaakov Feinstein, R. Yissachar Dov Ber Feinstein (the shochet in Starobin), R. Moshe Feinstein (the "prodigy of Starobin", later author of Igrot Moshe) or R. Mordechai Feinstein (later Rabbi of Shklow). The author was unlikely to be their older brother R. Avraham Yitzchak Feinstein (father of R. Yechiel Michel Feinstein) who was already married when their father moved to Starobin.
[2] double leaves (8 written pages). Good condition. Stains, wear and folding marks.
Fragmentary manuscript leaves extracted from a bindings genizah – fragments from Toldot Adam VeChavah by Rabbeinu Yerucham. Sephardic script, [ca. 15th/16th century].
Fragments from Sefer Chavah, section 24, parts 1 and 2.
The present lot contains four halves of leaves, two of which are part of the same leaf, corresponding to p. 202b in the Venice 1553 edition; and two other half leaves corresponding to pp. 202a and 204b of the same edition.
4 half leaves. Approx. 15 cm. Fair condition. Stains, including dampstains. Some worming. Open tears, affecting text.
![Patient diary, handwritten by the kabbalist R. Yitzchak Kaduri. [Jerusalem, ca. 1960s].Notebook with dozens of leaves, contai](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale96/251_1.jpg "Patients Diary of Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri")
![Patient diary, handwritten by the kabbalist R. Yitzchak Kaduri. [Jerusalem, ca. 1960s].Notebook with dozens of leaves, contai](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale96/251_2.jpg "Patients Diary of Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri")
Patient diary, handwritten by the kabbalist R. Yitzchak Kaduri. [Jerusalem, ca. 1960s].
Notebook with dozens of leaves, containing 282 entries, in which R. Kaduri documented in detail in his own handwriting the various requests of people who came to him for blessing, advice and pidyon nefesh, with questions about engagements, marital issues, cures for sicknesses and more. R. Kaduri documented the questions he was asked and the answers, advice or amulets he gave, usually based on Goralot he performed and astrology.
R. Yitzchak Kaduri (ca. 1899-2006), born in the late 19th century in Iraq, studied Torah and kabbalah under Torah scholars of Iraq and Jerusalem, to which he immigrated in 1922. In his early years in Jerusalem he made a living binding books and manuscripts, and he studied in the Beit El and Porat Yosef yeshivas. Over the years he became renowned as a foremost expert in all areas of kabbalah. Many flocked to him for his blessings, advice and amulets, as he was considered one of the only individuals in his times proficient in producing kabbalistic amulets. He passed away over 100 years old, and hundreds of thousands of people attended his funeral.
[43] leaves. 22 cm. Good condition. Some stains and wear. Detached leaves. Bound in an early leather binding, damaged.
Provenance: Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, EI.011.019.
Assorted collection of letters, signed by rabbis from Syria, Aleppo and Beirut (Lebanon), ca. early 20th century.
Some of the letters included in the collection:
• Letter of the Or Torah committee in Aleppo to Dr. Moshe Gaster of England, signed by the community rabbis: R. Chaim son of Shlomo Nechmad, R. Yehudah Dweck HaKohen, R. Chaim son of Ezra Tawil, R. Ezra Yosef Shayo, R. Reuven Ancona, R. Yaakov Daknish HaKohen, and the secretary of the committee R. Meir Sason Ajami. [Aleppo, ca. 1920s].
• Copying of letter sent by the Chacham Bashi R. Moshe HaLevi, signed by: R. Shaul Katzin, R. Avraham Ades and R. Yitzchak Shrim. [Ca. 1908].
• Letter of R. Aharon Moshe Yedid HaLevi, Rabbi of Beirut. Sivan 1909.
• Several letters from rabbis of Beirut (Lebanon): R. Shabtai Bohbot, R. Shlomo Tajer and R. Bentzion Lichtman.
• Letter from R. Ezra Yitzchak Chamawi.
• Letters from R. Moshe Sofer, director of the Torah school in Beirut.
12 letters. Varying size. Good condition.
Collection of documents, letters, certificates and halachic rulings from various institutions, mainly rabbinical institutions in Turkish cities. 1909-1939.
Contains: Certificate signed by R. Yosef HaKohen and R. Yosef Ferrara, with stamps of the Chief Rabbinate and Beit Din in Constantinople; letters and documents on official stationery of the "Chief Rabbinate of Turkey, including a letter to R. Bentzion Uziel, signed by R. Refael David Saban, R. Yaakov Argueti and R. Moshe ibn Habib; certificates on official stationery of the Smyrna (Izmir) Beit Din, signed by the head of the Beit Din R. Moshe Melamed and other rabbis; a document of the Ashkenazi community in Constantinople, and a certificate signed by R. Dr. David Marcus – Rabbi of the Ashkenazim in Constantinople; documents from a Dardanelle village certification; documents on official stationery of the Chief Rabbinate of Turkey [in Constantinople], some signed by R. Chaim Nachum, Chief Rabbi of Turkey (including blank official stationery of the rabbinate); documents on stationery of the Chief Rabbi of Izmir, signed by R. Nisim Danon; certificate on stationery of the Smyrna [Izmir] Jewish community, signed by R. Yehudah Albaali, R. Moshe Melamed and R. Bechor Yitzchak Katan; a document of engagement with an official printed header of the Chief Rabbinate of Turkey (for an engagement in Constantinople, Tevet 1907); and more.
35 leaves. Varying size. Good-fair overall condition (stains, wear, tears and folding marks).
Handwritten letter of the Chassidic Gemilut Chasadim society in Jerusalem, signed by the directors: R. "David Tzvi Shlomo" Bidermann – the Rebbe of Lelov, and his relative R. "Binyamin Berenstein", with stamps of the society. Jerusalem, Shevat 1892.
Confirmation of receipt of a donation to the Gemilut Chasadim society from "the elder philanthropist… R. David son of R. Tzvi Weissman of Rozhniativ". The above directors bless the donor to succeed in transferring the full sum he had pledged (in installments): "…And may God judge him worthy to complete the task as he said…".
Rebbe David Tzvi Shlomo Bidermann (1844-1918), son of Rebbe Elazar Menachem Mendel of Lelov (1827-1883), leader of the Chassidic communities of Jerusalem. R. David Tzvi was holy and pure from his youth. In 1850, when his grandfather Rebbe Moshele travelled to Eretz Israel and took leave of Rebbe Yisrael of Ruzhin, the Ruzhiner said that the boy David has "shining, bright eyes". Over the years, he would travel from Jerusalem to Karlin and became one of the leading Chassidim of the Beit Aharon. His father, Rebbe Elazar Mendel, attested that he never ceased to see God as standing before him. The Yismach Yisrael of Aleksander dubbed him "a Sefer Torah". R. Chaim Shmuel of Chęciny said that for many years he was the "Tzaddik of the generation". Upon his father’s death in 1883 he was appointed rebbe, and was the primary leader of the Chassidic community of Jerusalem.
R. Binyamin Yehudah Leib Berenstein, born ca. 1930s in Safed to his father R. Fishel Berenstein, a follower of Rebbe Moshe Tzvi of Savran. His father, who was childless, was blessed by his rebbe to have a child, and he advised him to immigrate to Eretz Israel. At a young age R. Binyamin married the daughter of R. Yitzchak David Bidermann of Lelov (son of Rebbe Moshe of Lelov and uncle of Rebbe David Tzvi Shlomo). R. Binyamin was a leader of the Chassidic community in Jerusalem, and he traveled abroad on missions for the Jerusalem Chassidim, where he was received with great honor by leading rebbes, the Divrei Chaim of Sanz and the Rebbe of Ruzhin: "he was received with open arms by the Tzaddikim of the generation, who closely associated with him due to his high virtue, his greatness in Torah, nobility of character and pure fear of heaven" (Tiferet Beit David, pp. 251-252). He was an extraordinary Torah scholar; reputedly, R. Yosef Babad, Rabbi of Ternopil, sent him the manuscript of his Minchat Chinuch to review and comment on before bringing it to press (Binyamin Rabinowitz, Amuda DiNehora – Labat Esh, Jerusalem 2003, pp. 68-69). His descendants include distinguished dynasties of rabbis and rebbes. His sons, sons-in-law and grandsons were known as scholarly and righteous individuals in Jerusalem, including his son-in-law Rebbe Alter Betzalel Nata Bidermann of Sosnowice and Jerusalem (brother of Rebbe David Tzvi Shlomo).
[1] leaf. 13x11.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains and folds. Tears to fold (repaired with tape on verso).