Auction 97 Part 2 Rare and Important Items
- (-) Remove chassidut filter chassidut
- (-) Remove ownership filter ownership
- and (3) Apply and filter
- book (3) Apply book filter
- gloss (3) Apply gloss filter
- import (3) Apply import filter
- inscript (3) Apply inscript filter
- of (3) Apply of filter
- ownership, (3) Apply ownership, filter
- signatur (3) Apply signatur filter
- signatures, (3) Apply signatures, filter
Likutei Torah Neviim UKetuvim, with Taamei HaMitzvot – the teachings of the Arizal by his disciple R. Chaim Vital. Lemberg (Lviv): M.F. Poremba, 1854.
Copy of Rebbe Shmuel Schneersohn, the Rebbe Maharash of Lubavitch, who purchased it in his youth and during the lifetime of his father, the Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch – his signature appears on the title page: "Shmuel – son of my father and master – Schneersohn", with the blessing for the living following the mention of his father. To the right of the signature, the Maharash adds in his handwriting the cost of the book: "for the price of 68" [compare the signature of the Maharash to the title page of Pardes Rimonim, Korets 1786, in the Chabad Library (a photocopy of which appears in R. Shalom Dovber Levine, "Lubavitch Library", Brooklyn, 1993, p. 40 [Hebrew]; "Exhibition of the Lubavitch Library", Brooklyn 1994, p. 28 [Hebrew]). This book was also purchased by Maharash in his youth and during the lifetime of his father the Tzemach Tzedek, and he adds the price of the book next to his signature].
R. Shmuel Schneersohn, the Rebbe Maharash (1834-1882), the fourth Chabad Rebbe, was the youngest son of the Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch. Already in his father's lifetime he began to deal in community affairs and traveled often to Kyiv and St. Petersburg in order to agitate for Russian Jewry and foil various decrees made against them. He also visited various countries all over Europe in order to meet communal leaders and to act to improve the conditions of Jews. After the passing of the Tzemach Tzedek in 1866, he succeeded him as leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch dynasty (four of his older brothers established their own Chassidic courts in Kopust, Liadi, Niezhin and Avrutch).
The Rebbe Maharash was deeply fond of ancient books and manuscripts, and especially of the manuscripts of his predecessors, the rebbes of Chabad. Already in his youth, during his father's lifetime, he had begun collecting rare manuscripts and books, some of which he would arrange and bind by hand, adding a special sticker where he wrote their names and contents. After the passing of his father the Tzemach Tzedek, he inherited part of his library and manuscripts, and began to expand his library over the years of his leadership (on the collection of books and writings of the Rebbe Maharash, see at length: R. Shalom Dovber Levine, "Lubavitch Library", pp. 36-42 [Hebrew]).
[1], 2-44, [45-118]; 34 leaves. Misfoliation. Approx. 20 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, including dampstains. Worming to binding and a few leaves. Creases and wear. Uneven trimming. Old binding, damaged and worn; missing spine.
Exceptionally rare. To the best of our knowledge, the autograph of the Rebbe Maharash of Lubavitch has never appeared in a public auction before.
Tosefot Bikurim, commentary on Tosefta by R. Menachem Nachum of Chavusy. Shklow: Tzvi Hirsch son of Meir HaLevi, Yitzchak son of Shmuel Zanvil Segal and Yitzchak son of Shmuel, [1809]. First edition.
Copy of R. Levi Yitzchak Schneersohn (son of R. Baruch Shalom son of the Tzemach Tzedek; great-grandfather of the Lubavitcher Rebbe) – his signature on the title page: "Levi Yitzchak son of my father and master R. Baruch Shalom Schneersohn", with a blessing for the living following his father's name. This signature of R. Levi Yitzchak is from his youth, before the passing of his father R. Baruch Shalom in 1869. To the best of our knowledge, this signature of his is the only one that has survived to the present day, and no other signature of his is known (in the Chabad-Lubavitch Library there is a wax seal with a partial ownership inscription attributed to him: "[Levi Yi]tzchak son of… R. Baruch Shal[om] Schneer[sohn]").
On the endpapers are additional ownership inscriptions: "Belongs to… R. Baruch son of R. Alexander Ziskind of Yanavichy"; "In honor of… R. Chaim Aryeh Leib". Stamp: "Moshe Loeb – Elshanske".
R. Levi Yitzchak Schneersohn (1834-1877), eldest son of R. Baruch Shalom Schneersohn, eldest son of the Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch. Originally served as rabbi and posek in Paddabranka (Mogilev governorate), and at the end of his life he was appointed Rabbi of Beshankovichy (Vitebsk governorate). After the passing of the Tzemach Tzedek (1866), R. Baruch Shalom was the only of his sons who did not take a leadership role, instead becoming a follower of his younger brother R. Shmuel, the Rebbe Maharash of Lubavitch. Like his father, R. Levi Yitzchak of Paddabranka followed his uncle the Maharash, as did his sons and descendants. In the writings of his son, R. Baruch Shalom, he cites practices he saw, and teachings heard by R. Levi Yitzchak from his grandfather the Tzemach Tzedek (Reshimot HaRabash, pp. 33, 70). It is there told how he once sat and sang a tune in a Shabbat meal by his uncle, the Rebbe Maharash of Lubavitch: "…how my father and master was a great singer and prayer, with wondrous loftiness, and that once on Shabbat by… the Rebbe Maharash, he asked him to sing during the meal, and he sang the prayer 'Meloch Al Kol HaOlam Kulo'…" (ibid., p. 120).
R. Levi Yitzchak of Paddabranka left three sons: R. Avraham, R. Menachem Mendel of Revka and R. Baruch Shneur Zalman (the Rabash) – father of R. Levi Yitzchak Schneersohn, Rabbi of Yekaterinoslav (Dnipropetrovsk), father of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. His works in Torah and halachah remain in manuscript. A responsum from him regarding the laws of kashrut is printed in the anthology Yagdil Torah (issue 4; New York, 1978, pp. 181).
Note that R. Levi Yitzchak of Paddabranka passed away young, and the information on him is meager and imprecise. In Nachalat Avot by R. Levi Ovchinski (Part I, 34), the biographical information about him is somewhat different: "The great R. Levi Yitzchak son of the Tzaddik R. Baruch Shalom son of the Rebbe author of Tzemach Tzedek – expert rabbi, saintly and ascetic… was rabbi and posek in Velizh, after which he left rabbinical posts. Died in 1872 around the age of 38".
[3], 52, 55-80 leaves. 34 cm. Fair condition. Stains and wear. Tears and worming, affecting text. Margins of some leaves reinforced with paper. Inscriptions. Stamp. Detached endpapers. Old binding, damaged and worn; partially detached and missing spine.
Five Book of the Torah, Mikraot Gedolot, with thirty-two commentaries. Warsaw: Yoel Lebensohn, 1860. Set in five volumes. Approbations of rabbis and rebbes, including Rebbe Yeshayah Muszkat of Praga, Rebbe Yaakov David of Vurka, the Imrei Binah of Kalisz, the Netziv of Volozhin, and others.
Copies of Rebbe Yehudah Hager-Horowitz of Dzikov. Handwritten inscriptions on endpapers of some volumes, with his signature (on the endpaper of the Shemot volume): "Y. Horowitz". All of the volumes contain several glosses in his handwriting.
Rebbe Yehudah Horowitz-Hager of Dzikov (1905-1989, Encyclopedia LaChassidut II, pp. 3-4), son of Rebbe Alter Yechezkel Eliyahu of Dzikov, from the Ropshitz dynasty. He was raised in Grosswardein (Oradea) by his maternal grandfather Rebbe Yisrael Hager of Vizhnitz, the Ahavat Yisrael, and married the daughter of his uncle Rebbe Chaim Meir Hager of Vizhnitz (adopting his surname, Hager). In 1936-1944, he served as dayan and posek in Klausenburg. After the Holocaust, he immigrated to Eretz Israel and settled in Jerusalem, where he served as lecturer in the Beit Yosef Tzvi (Dushinsky) yeshiva, where he edified many disciples. He was an intimate associate of the Chazon Ish.
He refused to lead a court, yet many Chassidim and admirers gathered around him. Near the end of his life, he lived in London, where he served as rebbe. He was known for his tremendous diligence, holiness, and tremendous devotion in his worship of God. He exerted himself his entire life in Torah study. Most of his novellae on Halachah and Aggadah were recorded with great concision in the margins of the books in his large library. Some of these novellae were published in the Gilyonei Mahari series.
5 volumes. Approx. 31 cm. Bereshit: [6], 134, [20] leaves. Shemot: 136, 8; 8, [1] leaves (missing one unnumbered leaf with list of Torah readings and Haftarah for Parashat Shekalim, which does not appear in all copies). Vayikra: [2], 87; 20 leaves. Bamidbar: 96; 8, 13-15 leaves (missing 4 leaves: 9-12 from the second sequence). Devarim: [2], 4-98; 24 leaves (leaves 5-8 of the first sequence are bound after leaf 12). Overall fair condition. Signs of extensive use. Stains, heavy wear and tears, including several open tears. Several leaves detached. Original leather bindings, worn and damaged (light worming to one binding). Placed in elegant card slipcase.