Toldot Adam, novellae on Talmudic topics, by R. Moshe David Ashkenazi. Jerusalem: R. Yisrael Bak, [1845].

Important ownership: copy belonging to prominent Hungarian rabbis, with signatures and ownership inscriptions (on title page and other leaves), detailing transfers of ownership: It first belonged to R. Elazar Fürst, Rabbi of Gyöngyös; then to R. Avraham Ashi Hirschler of Pressburg; then to R. Avraham Chiya Hirsch, head of the Sereď Beit Din (disciple of the Chatam Sofer); then to R. Akiva Fischer, Rabbi of Tét (disciple of the Chatam Sofer), next his son R. Tzvi Hirsch Fischer, Rabbi of Dévaványa, son-in-law of his uncle R. Avraham Chiya; and finally his brother R. Amram Fischer, Rabbi of Gyönk (son-in-law of R. Eliezer Süssman Sofer).
On the leaves of the book, glosses in two hands.

The author, R. Moshe David Ashkenazi – rabbi of Tolcsva-Safed (1774-1856), father-in-law of the Yitav Lev of Sighet. Progenitor of the rebbes of Satmar and Klausenburg. Rabbi of Tolcsva for forty years, and later one of the founders of the Chassidic settlement in post-earthquake Safed.

[2], 142 leaves. 30 cm. Fair condition. Many stains, including large dampstains to some leaves. Much wear and creases. Marginal tears to several leaves. Light worming, slightly affecting text. Stamps and handwritten inscriptions. New leather binding.

Sh. Halevy, no. 33.

Collection of Books of the Yitav Lev:

• Yitav Panim, Chassidic homilies and discourses on the festivals, by Rebbe Yekutiel Yehudah Teitelbaum, Rabbi of Sighet, author of Yitav Lev. Part I – Lemberg (Lviv), Yaakov Meshulam Nik and U. W. Salat, 1881; Part II – Munkacs: Pinchas Blayer, 1883. First edition. Two parts in two volumes. Part II bound before Part I. Missing leaf 157 of Part II.
First edition printed in the lifetime of the author, Rebbe Yekutiel Yehudah Teitelbaum, Rabbi of Sighet, author of Yitav Lev. Part II of the book was published days before he passed away, in Elul 1883. When the new book was brought to his sickbed, he kissed it all around and "shed tears of happiness that he merited to see it" – see below.
This book was edited and published by his daughter's son, Rebbe Moshe David Teitelbaum, Rabbi of Magyarlápos, who recounts in the introduction to Responsa Avnei Tzedek (Lemberg, 1885): "And fortunate am I that he appointed me over his household and lovingly revealed to me his treasury, and entrusted me with his book Yitav Panim to edit and print, the second part of which was published in full while he was still alive, a few days before his passing; and when I brought it to his bed, he rejoiced, kissed it on every side, and shed tears of happiness that he merited to see it. Afterwards he called me near to his perfect bed, and his face shone like the sun, and he said to me: My dear son, I give you my blessing and great thanks for having fulfilled my long-held desire. May G-d repay your labor and may your wages be full…" (see also Rebbe Moshe David Teitelbaum’s introduction to Yismach Moshe, Sighet 1898 edition).
The author's name is not mentioned on the title page (as with his previous book, Yitav Lev), but is alluded to in the initials of the book’s name: Yitav stands for Yekutiel Yehudah Teitelbaum [he used to sign his name with these initials].
Chassidic discourses and homilies for the festivals: Part I – for Rosh Hashanah, Shabbat Teshuvah, 13 attributes and Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Chanukkah; Part II – Shovavim, Four Parashiyot, Purim, Shabbat HaGadol, Pesach, Shavuot, Bein HaMetzarim, 15th of Av and the month of Elul.
Signatures on title pages: "Yisrael Rosenfeld".

• Yitav Panim, Chassidic homilies and discourses on the festivals, by Rebbe Yekutiel Yehudah Teitelbaum, Rabbi of Sighet, author of Yitav Lev. Khust: Meir Yehudah Ketina, 1912. Second edition. Two parts in two volumes. Does not contain last leaf of second volume with errata.
Second edition, with approbation of author’s grandson, Rebbe Moshe David Teitelbaum, Rabbi of Magyarlápos (Târgu Lăpuș), editor of the first edition printed in the author's lifetime, in which he writes that he decided to identify the author, although his name was not given in the first edition.

• Rav Tuv LeBeit Yisrael, commentaries on the Torah by Rebbe Yekutiel Yehudah Teitelbaum, the Yitav Lev, Rabbi of Sighet. Lviv (Lemberg): Yaakov Meshulam Ehrenpreis, 1889. First edition.
This book was edited and published by the author’s grandson and close disciple, Rebbe Moshe David Teitelbaum, Rabbi of Magyarlápos, who recounts in the introduction to Responsa Avnei Tzedek (Lviv, 1885) that his grandfather entrusted him with all his manuscripts to have them printed (see above).
On the last leaf are printed two letters from the author: "Regarding the problem that has arisen in winemaking… so as not to transgress the prohibition of Chametz on Pesach and Yein Nesech".

• Responsa Avnei Tzedek, Part I, on Orach Chaim and Yoreh Deah, by Rebbe Yekutiel Yehudah Teitelbaum, Rabbi of Sighet (author of Yitav Lev). Lviv: Uri Ze'ev Wolf Salat, 1885. First edition. Does not contain two leaves of indexes, after the title page.
Stamps: "Shmuel Baruch Guttmann, shochet and prayer leader of Grosswardein (Oradea) and Maggid of the lecture society".

Rebbe Yekutiel Yehudah Teitelbaum (1808-1883), Rabbi of Sighet, son of R. Elazar Nisan Teitelbaum Rabbi of Sighet, and son-in-law of R. Moshe David Ashkenazi, the Tolcsva Rabbi who later moved to Safed. His primary teacher was his paternal grandfather, Rebbe Moshe Teitelbaum, Rabbi of Ujhel, author of Yismach Moshe, who greatly cherished his grandson and divulged his heavenly revelations to him. He was also a disciple of R. Asher Yeshayah of Ropshitz.

In 1833 (at the age of 25), R. Yekutiel Yehudah was appointed Rabbi of Stropkov, and later succeeded his grandfather as Rabbi of Ujhel (Sátoraljaújhely). He later served as Rabbi of Gorlice and Drohobych.

In 1858 he relocated to serve as Rabbi of Sighet (Sighetu Marmației), capital of the Maramureș region, and established a large yeshiva where about two hundred students studied at its prime. His students there included R. Shlomo Leib Tabak, author of Erech Shai and head of the Sighet Beit Din. His grandson attests that "he was a merciful father to them and he bore them on his shoulders as a nurse bears an infant, and he personally attended to their studying Torah in holiness and purity". In Sighet he achieved worldwide acclaim, and thousands of Chassidim flocked to the city for his sage advice, blessings and salvation. He was known for his great holiness, which his grandson Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar attests that he never debased. Many miraculous stories are told of him, including wonders revealed to him by divine inspiration. He was known in his generation for reading the minds of those standing before him, and wondrous tales are told about it. He is known for his books Yitav Lev on the Torah, Yitav Panim on the festivals, Rav Tuv on the Torah and Responsa Avnei Tzedek.

5 volumes. Varying size and condition. Mostly new bindings.

Letter on postcard, handwritten and signed by Rebbe Avraham Aharon

Teitelbaum of Kolbasov. Kolbasov, Monday, Shemini [12th Nisan], 1901.

His stamp on verso of postcard: "Avraham Aharon Teitelbaum, Rabbi of Kolbasov…". Sent to the philanthropist R. Mordechai Friedman of Tiszalök. He refers to the diagnosis and orders R. Mordechai had received from a famous Viennese doctor, begs him to obey them, and instructs him not to be too stringent for the upcoming festival of Pesach. Rebbe Avraham Aharon requests he give his thanks to their mutual friend "Avraham son of Rachel" and blesses him for G-d's mercy and offers blessings for the upcoming festival of Pesach, signing "Avraham Aharon Teitelbaum".

Rebbe Avraham Aharon Teitelbaum of Kolbasov (Kolbuszowa; 1834-1910), son of the Yitav Lev and grandson of the Yismach Moshe. Son-in-law of Rebbe Yechiel Rubin of Kolbasov, whom he succeeded as the city's rabbi and rebbe.
Postcard, 14X9 cm. Good condition.

Collection of Chumash booklets for children – Torah portions with Onkelos, Rashi and Haftarot. Klausenburg (Cluj): Weinstein & Friedmann, 1926. 26 of 54 booklets.
Booklets with the Torah portion, intended for youths – one Torah portion per booklet.
Stamp on some booklets of the bookstores of Samuel Löwy in Medias and Avraham Gross in Kisvárda.
These booklets are rare today. The present collection comprises about half of the entire series – 26 booklets of the 54 printed (see Hebrew description for list of Parashiyot included in the collection).

26 booklets. Approx. 22 cm. Overall good-fair condition. The booklets have not been thoroughly examined and are being sold as is.

Includes Yitro, Pinchas and Matot booklets, which are lacking in the National Library.

Collection of over 150 letters (on postcards) sent by the students of the Beit Yosef Novardok yeshiva in Biržai who were deported to Siberia, to R. Eliezer Bentzion Bruk, dean of the Beit Yosef Novardok yeshiva in Jerusalem. [Siberia, Kazakhstan and North Caucasus (Russia), Łódź (Poland) and elsewhere, ca. 1942-1946]. Yiddish (a few in Hebrew and Russian).

The present collection is a rare and exceptionally comprehensive documentation of the students of the Novardok-Bialystok yeshiva during their deportation to the Siberian wilderness and in remote towns of Kazakhstan and the Caucasus, and on their way to Poland and the liberated zones at the end of World War II. In their letters, the students thank R. Bruk for sending aid packages from Eretz Israel, describe their arduous work, the difficult conditions and the pressing situation in the camps and kolkhozes; detail their lack of Jewish ritual objects and books; send greetings to their relatives and acquaintances abroad; seek accurate information on rumors of the Holocaust and what became of their friends and relatives; describe their hope for the defeat of the Germans and the victory of the Soviets and for the Jewish people to be avenged; write of their plans to leave Russia and return to their home in Poland on the way to Eretz Israel; and more.
The collection includes many letters from deans of the Novardok yeshivas and leading students, including: 11 letters from R. Yehudah Leib Nekritz, dean and director of the yeshiva, and his wife Rebbetzin Ettel Nekritz (daughter of R. Avraham Yoffen and granddaughter of the Alter of Novardok); three letters from R. Yaakov Galinsky (later the famous Maggid), a leading Torah scholar in the Novardok yeshivas in Pinsk and Kovel; two letters from R. Chaim Zaitchik, dean of the Novardok yeshiva in Buchach; letter from R. Yitzchak Orlansky, dean of the Novardok yeshiva in Pinsk and Kovel; eight letters from R. Refael Waldschein and his mother Rebbetzin Gittel Waldschein (wife of R. Yitzchak Elchanan Waldschein, the Shershover; sister of R. Chaim Shmuelevitz and granddaughter of the Alter of Novardok); letter of R. Moshe Roginsky, a dean of the Beit Yosef Kollel in Vilna; and many letters from yeshiva students (see Hebrew description for a partial listing).

The collection additionally includes: • Two letters with a Shanah Tovah blessing from the mashgiach of the yeshiva R. Yisrael Movshovitz and R. Yekutiel Fuchs. Prague, Tishrei 1946. • Lengthy three-page letter from R. Yechiel Fishkin of Rubiazhevichy (later Rabbi of Šiauliai) detailing some of his past during the Holocaust period and the news he received from the Novardok-Biržai yeshiva in exile in Russia (Ostia, Italy, Kislev 1945). • Letter from Rebbetzin Fruma Rappaport (wife of R. David Rappaport, author of Tzemach David). • Letter to R. Hillel Witkind. • Seven leaves (typewritten) with list of rabbis and students receiving aid packages, their locations and the date of sending of the packages. • Several envelopes.

Background
At the outbreak of World War I, when Russia annexed eastern Poland, including Bialystok where the Novardok yeshiva headed by R. Avraham Yoffen was located, the yeshiva students who refused to live under the Soviet regime fled to Vilna. When the Russians invaded Lithuania, the yeshiva students again fled to Biržai while attempting to attain visas to countries that were not occupied by the Germans or the Soviets. While R. Avraham Yoffen and a limited number of students managed to attain visas to the United States, the remaining students were offered Soviet citizenship; when they refused, they were deported to labor camps in Siberia (most of those students who were not deported were later murdered by the Nazis).
Some 60 yeshiva students were deported in two groups, one with R. Yehudah Leib Nekritz to Parbig and the other with R. Yisrael Movshovitz to Krasnoyarsk, both suffering from hard labor, harsh torture, starvation and illness, which, however, they bore with courage, continuing to study Torah and observe mitzvot in secret.
R. Movshovitz's group was released in 1941 and chose to settle in Merki, Kazakhstan, where they were obliged to perform hard and dangerous work in a kolkhoz where many died. R. Nekritz's group was released in 1944 and settled in a sovkhoz near Ipatovo. At the end of the war, all the deported yeshiva students left Soviet Russia for Łódź and various DP camps, later immigrating to the United States and Eretz Israel.
The two groups were first able to contact their yeshiva dean R. Avraham Yoffen in New York in 1942, who immediately began to arrange for aid packages with food, clothing and other necessities. R. Bentzion Bruk was one of the main initiators of the aid packages sent from Eretz Israel, and was also in continuous contact with the deported yeshiva students. The letters in the present collection, which come from the archive of R. Bentzion Bruk, were sent by the yeshiva students during these difficult years in exile in Russia.

Over 150 postcards. Varying size and condition. Filing holes.