Leaf (two written pages - approx. 60 lines) handwritten by R. Moshe Sofer, the Chatam Sofer - homily on the Torah.
The heading "Yitro" appears at the top of the first page, and at the bottom of the page: "For Parashat Mishpatim". At the top of the second page, the heading: "For Parashat Mishpatim", and in the middle of the page: "For Parashat Teruma".
The Chatam Sofer wrote these novellae in 1805, and they were published in his book Chatam Sofer on the Torah, Part II - Book of Shemot. The homily on this leaf pertain to the following verses: "All that the Lord spoke we will do", "I will hear because I am gracious", "And you shall worship the Lord, your G-d, and He will bless your food and your drink, and I will remove illness from your midst", "And they shall make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst, according to all that I show you".
[1] leaf (2 written pages - approx. 60 autograph lines). 24 cm. Good condition. Stains. Minor wear.

Manuscript, novellae on Tractates Bava Batra, Chullin and Shevuot, handwritten and signed by R. Mordechai Efraim Fishel Sofer of Pressburg. A large part of the manuscript is comprised of novellae which he heard from R. David Deutsch, the Ohel David. "Koton Dorf" [=Gattendorf, Austria, early 1800s].
The title page states: "This notebook belongs to the student Mordechai Fishel Pollack son of R. Eliezer Sussman, residing in the town of Koton Dorf". Under the word "Pollack", the name "Sofer" was added between the lines. Under the words "Koton Dorf", a comment was added in a different handwriting: "Like its name it is" (i.e. it is indeed a small town).
An additional signature of the writer R. Fishel Sofer appears on p. 17b: "I wrote this in honor of the Torah, Mordechai Fishel of Wodzisław in New Galicia(?), capital of Poland".
This manuscript was written by the author in his youth. The first part of the manuscript (leaves 1-18) contains the author's novellae on the first three chapters of tractate Bava Batra, and the second part (leaves 30-47) consists of the author's novellae on tractates Chullin and Shevuot.
The second part was written while he was studying in the yeshiva of R. David Deutsch, author of Ohel David, in the early 1800s. This part contains dozens of novellae which the writer heard from R. David Deutsch. The following heading appears at the beginning of the second part: "That which I heard from my teacher on Tractate Chullin" (p. 30a). Another heading: "Tractate Shevuot, folio 3, in the name of my teacher, R. David" (p. 42a). When quoting questions and answers by R. David, he writes "And my teacher raises the difficulty", "and my teacher resolved". Some of these novellae from R. David on tractate Shevuot were published in his book Ohel David on Tractate Shevuot (Pressburg 1835; see enclosed material). However, some of the novellae quoted here in the name of R. David were not published there. Furthermore, none of the novellae quoted in the name of R. David on Tractate Chullin were printed in his book on Chullin (Ungvar, 1867).
This part also includes novellae which R. David gave over in the name of his teachers, the Noda BiYehuda and Maharam Barby (sometimes referred to in the manuscript as "Maram Barby" or "M.H.B."), as well as a thought from R. Avraham Broda (p. 31a). Novellae from rabbis and students of the yeshiva, such as R. David Mattersdorf and R. Leibush of Wodzisław, are also recorded here.
The manuscript was passed down as an inheritance to the descendants of the author, and they added their signatures and inscriptions.
An old piece of paper was pasted on the verso of the title page, stating: "I, the writer, Moshe Avraham son of R. Eliezer Sussman Sofer Rabbi of Hallasch and the vicinity. I wrote… on Motzaei Shabbat Parashat Teruma, 7th Adar 1881".
On p. 6a: "Yehuda Sofer, son of R. Sussman Eliezer Sofer". A beautiful thought in the name of the Chatam Sofer is recorded on p. 8a, in a different handwriting to the rest of the manuscript - presumably handwritten by the grandson R. Yehuda Sofer.
On the front endpaper: "1940, belongs to Yosef Shmuel Sofer of Tét".
R. Mordechai Efraim Fishel Sofer of Pressburg (1786?-1843, HaChatam Sofer VeTalmidav, pp. 337-340), born in Wodzisław, Poland to R. Eliezer Sussman, who worked as a sofer. In ca. 1790s, his father moved with the family from Poland to Hungary, and settled in a small village named Gattendorf, near Pressburg. As indicated at the beginning of this manuscript, R. Mordechai Efraim Fishel was dubbed "Pollack" in his childhood, in reference to his Polish origins. He later adopted the name of his father's profession - Sofer. In ca. 1798, at the age of 12, his father sent him to Mattersdorf to study under the Chatam Sofer, and since then, he spent the next 42 years in close proximity to his teacher. R. Fishel Sofer was one of the greatest, most prominent, and closest disciples of the Chatam Sofer. He was attached to the Chatam Sofer with a profound emotional bond, and would frequent his teacher's house every single day, both to visit him and be seen by him. Reputedly, R. Fishel Sofer would state that gazing upon his teacher's countenance saves him from sin. Conversely, the Chatam Sofer would attest that on a day he doesn’t see his disciple, "he senses a deficiency in his spiritual level". Though he was offered prominent rabbinic positions, R. Fishel declined them on his teacher's advice, and remained in Pressburg his entire life, disseminating Torah. R. Fishel was an expert Talmud educator, and trained many of the Pressburg yeshiva students to be on par with the high scholastic level of the yeshiva. The Chatam Sofer sent his sons the Ketav Sofer and the Michtav Sofer to study under him. The foreword of Derashot Chatam Sofer states that in 1820 and 1821, the Chatam Sofer did not record his novellae in Aggadah, and instead his disciple R. Fishel Sofer wrote down what he had heard from his teacher. His teacher relied on his notes, and even proofread them and added his handwritten comments in the margins. R. Fishel spent most of his life under his prime teacher the Chatam Sofer, except for one Zman in which his teacher sent him to study in the yeshiva of his colleague R. David Deutsch, author of Ohel David, who served at the time as rabbi of Szerdahely. This was presumably in the early 1800s. R. Mordechai Fishel relates to this period in his will: "I had the merit of studying in the Beit Midrash of my teacher, master of the entire Jewish people, light of the Diaspora [the Chatam Sofer], I did not cease studying under him my entire life until his passing, apart from one Zman in which I went to study in the yeshiva of R. David Deutsch, under his advice and directive". This manuscript contains the novellae which R. Mordechai Fishel heard from R. David during that Zman, on tractates Chullin and Shevuot, with the addition of his own novellae.
R. Moshe Avraham Sofer (1866?-1938, HaChatam Sofer VeTalmidav, p. 601) was the son of R. Eliezer Sussman Sofer Rabbi of Hallasch (Kiskunhalas) and Paks (son of R. Fishel Sofer - author of the present manuscript). He was a disciple of the Shevet Sofer and an outstanding Torah scholar. He lived in Pápa, Hallasch and Csorna.
R. Yehuda Sofer (1868-1913, HaChatam Sofer VeTalmidav, p 572) was the son of R. Eliezer Sussman Sofer Rabbi of Hallasch and Paks (son of R. Fishel Sofer - author of the present manuscript). He was a disciple of the Shevet Sofer. He served as rabbi of Karlburg and Nagyszentmiklós, and from 1905, as rabbi of Arad. He published his father's book Midrash Mispar (Paks 1912), with his own additions entitled Mateh Yehuda.
The student Yosef Shmuel Sofer (perished in the Holocaust, 1944), son of R. Yitzchak Tzvi Sofer of Sopron, son of R. Avraham Yaakov Rabbi of Tét, son of R. Yisrael Mordechai Efraim Fishel Rabbi of Sárvár, son of R. Eliezer Sussman Rabbi of Hallasch and Paks, son of R. Fishel Sofer - author of the present manuscript.
[1], 1-49, 52-61, [1] leaves (including some blank leaves. 56 written pages). 21 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains and wear. Marginal tears to some leaves, occasionally affecting text. Old binding.

Manuscript, "Sefer HaDevarim HaShemurim" - memoirs of R. Yaakov HaLevi Levin on the events of the Polish uprising in 1830-1831, including an account of the imprisonment and release of his brother-in-law, the wealthy R. Shlomo Zalman Posner. [Poland, ca. 1841].
Neat, cursive Ashkenazic script. Text set within double-line frames, sometimes dividing between passages.
A complete composition written in poetic language, containing a first-hand account of the events, narrated by R. Yaakov HaLevi Levin of Płońsk. The title is surrounded by numerous verses, with calculations of their numerical values.
This composition documents the events of the Polish uprising against the Russian empire in 1830-1831 (also known as the November Uprising or the Cadet Revolution), and the imprisonment of R. Shlomo Zalman Posner, prominent wealthy Polish Jew who expended great effort to improve the state of his Jewish brethren. Posner was admired in the higher echelons of the Polish government and the court of the Russian Czar, and contributed greatly to the economic development of Poland. He provided livelihood for hundreds of Jews who worked under him in his textile factory, which supplied fabric to the Polish army. With the outbreak of the uprising, Posner was targeted by the Poles who resented him for his wealth, status, and Jewishness. He was accused of cooperation with the Russians, and of handing over information about the moves of the Polish insurgents. His factory and home were attacked, and he was arrested together with several family members. They were brought to Warsaw for trial, only narrowly escaping death penalty, following much lobbying from various parties.
This composition is a portrayal of the events of the uprising, the part played by the Jews in it and how it affected them. The account is centered around the incarceration of Posner, and is written by a first-hand witness - R. Yaakov HaLevi Levin of Płońsk, brother-in-law of Posner, who was also arrested and taken to Warsaw.
The publisher's blurb on the dustjacket of the book HaYehudim VehaMered HaPolani (Bialik Institute, 1953, based on a different manuscript, see below) notes regarding this work: "…this book of memoirs is in effect the only extant Jewish documentation of the events of that time, from a first-hand witness. The uniqueness of the book lies in the way it sheds a different light on the tribulations of the Jews during the Polish uprising, contrary to the praise and acclaim accorded by the previous generation to the Polish-Jewish relations during the uprising… an approach which was fabricated by assimilated Jews who wished to prove that Jew-hatred was foreign to these revolutionary movements. In this respect, the book serves as an important source regarding the history of Polish Jewry in that period".
[1], 21 leaves. Approx. 20 cm. Good-fair condition. Worming. Signature and stamps ("Shmuel Tzvi son of R. A. Weltzman - Kalisz"; "Moshe Yehuda Hellmann"). Early binding, with leather spine, damaged.
There is a different, longer version of this work, comprising sixty chapters, which the historian Nathan Michael Gelber (1891-1966) published based on a photocopy of a different manuscript (Główna Biblioteka Judaistyczna, Warsaw, MS 9249/16048) in the book HaYehudim VehaMered HaPolani (Bialik Institute, Jerusalem, 1953), with the addition of a comprehensive preface discussing the events of that time and the composition.
In his foreword, Gelber mentions two other versions, which are not extant today. One is a manuscript (of thirty chapters) owned by Yissachar Schwartz of Zgierz, passages of which were published by R. Yitzchak Nissenbaum in an article about R. Shlomo Zalman Posner, in the HaMizrachi weekly, 1920 (issues 14-16). The second is a manuscript owned by R. Tzvi Yechezkel Michelsohn, who quotes a passage of it in his work Tzemach HaSadeh (at the end of the book Tzemach LeAvraham, Warsaw 1935). The whereabouts of these manuscripts, as well as those of the Warsaw manuscript, are not known today, and they may have been lost in the Holocaust.
Comparison of quotes from the three sources discloses that there are differences between them, both in the style of writing and information they provide. One can conjecture that these are various arrangements of the same work, all produced by the author himself.
The present manuscript is a fourth version, different to the other three. This version is comprised of 24 chapters, and is prefaced by a long introduction. The handwriting is identical to that of the Warsaw manuscript on which Gelber based his book (by comparison with the image at the beginning of his book). This may be the author's handwriting.
Enclosed: Copy of the book HaYehudim VehaMered HaPolani, Jerusalem, 1953.

Large archive from R. Eliyahu Mordechai HaLevi Wolkowski, comprising hundreds of manuscript and typescript leaves of Torah novellae, drafts of letters he sent and letters he received, printed leaves and broadsides (which he reused by writing on the verso), and more. [Jerusalem, ca. 1950s].
Most of the archive consists of drafts of parts of his magnum opus - Maarechet HaTalmud VehaPoskim. It also includes drafts of letters he wrote to family members, letters of Torah thoughts, letters pertaining to the rabbinate and Beit Din, and greeting letters to presidents of the State and other public figures.
One noteworthy letter was received from R. Shlomo Shimon Karelitz, writing on behalf of his uncle the Chazon Ish: "To R. E.M. HaLevi Wolkowski. I received his letter and it was presented to my uncle the Chazon Ish, and he told me to reply…".
R. Eliyahu Mordechai HaLevi Wolkowski (1873-1962), disciple of the Alter of Slabodka and the Chafetz Chaim. After his wedding, he associated with the Or Same'ach and the Gaon of Rogatchov. An outstanding Torah scholar, he served as rabbi of various Lithuanian communities. His magnum opus was Maarechet HaTalmud VehaPoskim - a Talmud edition combining the text of the Talmud with the halachic conclusions drawn from the books of the Shulchan Aruch. Upon his immigration to Eretz Israel in 1934, he intended to merge his work together with that of his colleague R. Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook - the Halacha Berurah Talmud, yet following the passing of R. Kook in 1935, he continued his work independently. In those years, he served as a leading dayan in the Rabbinical court (R. Elyashiv's first position as dayan was in the Beit Din of R. Wolkowski). He also served as rabbi of the Katamon neighborhood in Jerusalem.
Huge archive, in three full folders, comprising hundreds of leaves. Size and condition vary.