Bnei Yissachar, Chassidic and kabbalistic discourses on the festivals and months of the year, Part I – Shabbat and Nisan-Elul, by Rebbe Tzvi Elimelech Shapiro, Rabbi of Dinov. Zhovkva, 1850. First edition.

Part I only, on the months of Nisan-Elul, and on Shabbat. Part II, on the months of Tishrei-Adar, was printed separately and is not included in this copy. (According to the Bibliography of the Hebrew Book, due to the different type in Part II and the blank page at the end of Part I, Part II was likely printed separately.)
The author is said to have once felt a special holy elation during Chanukah. Once, when he wished to ask his close teacher, the Chozeh of Lublin, for an explanation, before he managed to pose the question his teacher answered him: "You are from the tribe of Yissachar, and in a previous reincarnation you were in the Hasmonean Beit Din, thus you feel additional holiness on Chanukah". On this basis, he named his book Bnei Yissachar. The Divrei Chaim of Sanz is said to have once shut himself in his room on Rosh Hashanah for hours before the blowing of the shofar, studying Bnei Yissachar with intense devotion as preparation for blowing the shofar (introduction to Yodei Binah by R. Elazar Tzvi Shapiro, son of the Bnei Yissachar; Beit Shlomo, New York 2005, p. 15; Shai Agnon, Sefer Sofer VeSipur, p. 457).

Rebbe Tzvi Elimelech Langsam-Shapiro of Dinov (1783-1841), a prominent Chassidic rebbe and kabbalist, close disciple of R. Mendele of Rimanov and disciple of the Chozeh of Lublin, the Ohev Israel of Apta and the Maggid of Kozhnitz. From a young age he served as Rabbi of various Galician towns and of Munkacs, but he is best known for officiating as Rabbi in Dinov, where he was appointed rebbe in 1815. He authored dozens of works on halachah, aggadah, Chassidut and kabbalah. His most famous work is his book Bnei Yissachar. He was the progenitor of many dynasties of rabbis and rebbes: Dinov, Munkacs, Bukovsk and others.
Signatures and handwritten inscriptions on title page and last leaf: "Shmuel Zeinvil son of the Rabbi of Ustrik (Ustrzyki Dolne)"; "Shmuel Zeinvil Kallech"; "This book was given to me as a bar mitzvah gift, [---?]" (calligraphic signature).

R. Shmuel Zanvil Kallech (d. 1883 in Safed), posek in Bukowsko and forebear of the Kallech family of Safed. Son of R. Yeshayah Zalman, Rabbi of Ustrzyki Dolne (near Lutowiska, Galicia), who was the son-in-law of Rebbe Shmuel Zanvil Beer, Rabbi of Ustrzyki Dolne (disciple of the Chozeh of Lublin and the Maggid of Kozhnitz, d. 1826). His wife, Freida Kallech (d. 1909 in Safed) was the great-granddaughter of Rebbe Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov, author of Bnei Yissachar – see one of his letters in Kedem catalogue, auction 54, lot 257.
Lengthy gloss on p. 52b.

[1], 24; 72 leaves. 23 cm. Fair condition. Stains (large dark stains on leaf 2). Wear. Small marginal open tears. On the two leaves following the title page, large open tears across the margins, affecting text, repaired with paper filling (these leaves may have been supplied from another copy). Worming, affecting text, repaired with paper filling. New leather binding.