Auction 85 - Judaica: Books, Manuscripts, Rabbinical Letters, Ceremonial Art
Gefen Yechidit, on matters pertaining to ethics and fear of Heaven, by R. Ze'ev Wolf Walldürn, with Luach HaChaim – brief health guidelines. Hanau, [1717].
Miniature format. Both works are rhymed.
Gefen Yechidit includes several poems by the author, including a lamentation for those murdered and taken captive in Podolia, 1676 or 1677. The persecutions documented in this lamentation are not known from any other source, see: Sefer Podhajce, pp. 24-25.
36 leaves. 11 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains and wear. Old binding.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin and Tractate Shavuot, with the classic commentators. Vilna: Widow and Brothers Romm, 1887.
Lengthy inscription in pencil on the front endpaper, in which the owner of this Talmud volume, a Jew from Czernowitz, describes the trials and tribulations he endured during WWI, beginning from his expulsion from Czernowitz, Bukovina far into Russia, his arrest, the danger he was in, the fellow Jewish exiles he met, and more. The inscription concludes with a list of the tractates he studied during his wanderings. The present tractates – Sanhedrin and Shavuot, were studied upon his return to Czernowitz in 1917.
Other inscriptions on the front endpapers.
124; 32; 50; 24; 60; 5; 8; 33; 18; 5 leaves. 40 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Tears to several leaves. Worming. Original leather binding, damaged.
Torah Study Under Perilous Conditions – During Expulsion and Imprisonment in WWI
The present Talmud volume contains a unique historic documentation from WWI, first hand testimony of a Jew from Czernowitz who was arrested, presumably during the Russian conquest, in the village of Prilipcze, Bukovina, in Adar 1915, and deported deep into Russia. He describes the difficulties he endured, including arrest and even danger of death. Eventually he was brought to Penza, Russia, where he was released. In Penza, he met some six hundred Jews who had also been exiled from Bukovina and Galicia. He stayed there for over a year, until he was granted permission to return to Czernowitz, which he reached in Kislev 1916. He found it conquered, empty of its inhabitants and ransacked. His sons and daughters were not there anymore, and he remained there alone. Throughout this difficult period, the author studied and completed eight tractates, including one which he studied in prison in Surazh (Chernihiv Oblast, Russia), as he records at the end of his inscription.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Printed booklet, "Or Gadol LaYehudim" / Beschryving van alle plechtigheeden, vreugde-gezangen, en gebeeden, verricht in de Portuguese Joodse Synagogue – account of the visit of William V, Prince of Orange, and his wife, Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia, to the Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam. Amsterdam: Gerhard Johan Janson & Israel Mondovy, [1768]. Hebrew, Dutch and Portuguese.
Account of the visit (printed in Portuguese and Dutch), with the prayers read during the ceremony (printed in Hebrew and Dutch) and a long blessing by R. Shlomo Shalem, Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Amsterdam.
[4], 6-31 pages 25.5 cm. Wide margins. Good condition. Stains. Loose gatherings. Original card binding, with damage; front board detached.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Printed proclamation, announcement of the fundraising campaign for the community's charity fund, to be read out in the synagogues on Shabbat, Parashat Vayehi 1801. Amsterdam: Widow of Yosef Proops Katz, [Tevet] 1801.
An appeal to all community members to donate to the communal charity fund, to finance its various projects (distributing money to the poor, supporting the sick and burying the dead).
[1] leaf (printed on one side). 39 cm. Good condition. Stains and creases. Folding marks.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Derush Hesped, printed booklet – eulogy for Empress Maria Theresa, by R. Yechezkel Landau Rabbi of Prague, author of Noda BiYehuda. Prague, [1780].
As stated on the title page, the Noda BiYehuda delivered this eulogy two weeks after the death of Empress Maria Theresa, at the Maisel Synagogue in Prague. The eulogy highly praises the empress, although she was known for her hatred of Jews and caused great suffering to the Jews of Prague. At the same time, it praises her son and successor, Emperor Joseph II, expressing joy upon the commencement of his reign. For further information, see: Marc Saperstein, 'Your Voice Like a Ram's Horn': Themes and Texts in Traditional Jewish Preaching, Cincinnatti 1996, pp. 445-484.
6 leaves. 16 cm. Fair condition. Stains, dampstains and traces of mold. Wear. Worming, not affecting text. Abrasions to title page, affecting imprint. Deleted stamp on last page. Inscriptions. Leaves partially detached.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Kohelet David, "List of the magnificent collection of books, curated and collected by the famous R. David Oppenheim, rabbi of Prague". Hamburg, 1826. Hebrew and Latin on facing pages.
Hebrew preface by author Isaac Metz and Latin preface by Cornelius Mueller.
The catalog lists thousands of books and manuscripts from the library of R. David Oppenheim, rabbi of Nikolsburg and Prague. The collection was eventually acquired by the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
R. David Oppenheim (1664-1736) was a wealthy Torah scholar, rabbi, yeshiva dean and kabbalist. In 1690, he was appointed rabbi of Nikolsburg (Mikulov) and Chief Rabbi of Moravia. Twenty years later, he was appointed rabbi of Prague, eventually serving as chief rabbi of Bohemia until his death. R. David cherished books and privately compiled the most important Jewish library of his times, containing thousands of volumes of rare books and manuscripts.
XVI, 742, [2] pages. 18.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Minor wear and creases to margins. Soft cover, with damage.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Rabbinische Gutachten über die Beschneidung [Rabbinical opinions on circumcision], compiled by Salomon Abraham Trier [R. Shlomo Zalman son of Avraham Trier]. Frankfurt am Main, 1844. German and Hebrew.
On the flyleaf, a handwritten inscription (in German and Hebrew) by "Dr. Wormser" [R. Shlomo Wormser (1814-1887), son of R. Shmuel Wormser Rabbi of Langen-Schwalbach and grandson of R. Shlomo Zalman Worms Rabbi of Fulda]. He relates that he received the book in 1845 from his teacher, R. Zalman Trier (compiler of the book; ordained Dr. Wormser for the rabbinate in 1834). He writes that R. Trier harshly criticized him for not writing an opinion letter to be published in this book.
In 1843, a Frankfurt-based newspaper published an article calling for the complete abolition of the mitzvah of circumcision, signed "Friends of the Reform". That same year, the Reform pedagogue Joseph Johlson (1777-1851) published a booklet in which he stated that every Jewish institution is entitled to replace circumcision with a different ritual. The group "Friends of the Reform" alleged that circumcision was the cause of crib deaths; due to the group's lobbying, the municipality of Frankfurt agreed to list uncircumcised children as Jews in the population registrars.
The rabbi of Frankfurt, R. Shlomo Zalman Trier (1758-1847), vigorously fought this decision and submitted several petitions to the municipality, stating that by Jewish law an uncircumcised boy cannot be called a Jew.
Simultaneously, R. Trier (together with R. Yissachar Ber Adler and R. Aharon Fuld) began to collect opinion letters from leading rabbis and Jewish intellectuals, on the importance of circumcision. 28 of these letters were printed in the present book. Among the writers: R. Yitzchak Dov HaLevi Bamberger of Würzburg; R. Samson Raphael Hirsch (then Rabbi of Emden); R. Yaakov Ettlinger of Altona, the Aruch LaNer; R. Yaakov Zvi Mecklenburg, author of HaKtav VehaKabbalah; Leopold Zunz of Berlin; Isaak Noah Mannheimer of Vienna and Samuel David Luzzatto (Shadal) of Padua.
XXIV, 240 pages. 19.5 cm. Good condition. Original binding.
Noted on the title page: "Als manuskript gedruckt" [printed as a manuscript]. R. Binyamin Shlomo Hamburger (in his book HaYeshiva HaRama BeFiurda) explains that in order to avoid a public controversy, very few copies of the book were printed and they were never sold by booksellers. R. Hamburger writes that the book is scarce.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Printed proclamation from the rabbis of Warsaw with instructions on how to relate to the non-Jewish population, in attempt to pacify them during the tense times of the 1881-1882 pogroms. Warsaw, Iyar 1881.
Signed in print by 11 rabbis of Warsaw, with the original stamp of the Warsaw Beit Din. This proclamation was published during difficult times for Russian and Polish Jewry, after the assassination of Czar Alexander II led to a series of pogroms in 1881-1882 (these pogroms were actively encouraged by the Russian authorities in order to divert the attention of the populace from the corrupt government).
[1] leaf. 35.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Creases and wear. Marginal open tears, not affecting text.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Manuscript, Hazkarat Neshamot pinkas (memorial book) of the burial society of Szeged (Hungary), [1879 onward].
Printed in gold on thick paper at the front of the pinkas: "Chevra Kadisha Gemilut Chassadim – Szeged, Elul 1879".
The pinkas lists hundreds of names of community members, including the rabbis and dayanim (R. Tzvi Bak, R. Yehuda [Leopold] Löw, R. Yosef Klein, R. Yosef Eliezer Bak and R. Elazar Ze'ev Seelenfreund).
With an inscription in memory of Lady Judith Montefiore, wife of Sir Moses Montefiore.
The Montefiores financially supported many charity organizations in Jewish communities worldwide. As a token of appreciation, they were appointed honorary presidents or honorary members of many Jewish organizations, and were mentioned in synagogue prayers.
More than 20 written leaves, and many more empty pages. 20 cm. Good condition. Stains. Tears and wear. Pieces of paper with handwritten corrections on some leaves. Fine velvet binding, with gilt design. Damage to binding.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Three leaves printed in Yas (Iași), ca. 1880-1904:
• Proclamation with rabbinic letters addressed to the Rumnik Sarat community (Râmnicu Sărat, Romania), regarding the polemic against a rival rabbi named R. Fishel, who established an independent community and brought in his own shochet. With letters from: R. Uri Shraga Feivel Taubes Rabbi of Yas, R. Avraham Yehoshua Heshel Friedman (rebbe of Bohush-Ruzhin), R. Aryeh Leibish Meisels head of the Premishla Beit Din. Yas, 1902.
• Proclamation, "The ban is annulled" – letter from R. Uri Shraga Feivel Taubes Rabbi of Yas, annulling the ban pronounced by one of the rabbis of Yas against some of the shochetim in town. Yas, Kislev 1904.
• Large leaf, "Juramant Israeletini" (Jewish Oath) in Hebrew and Romanian, completed by hand in Romanian (in Hebrew and Latin characters). Signed by R. Sender Taubes. Yas, November 1883.
Three large leaves. Size and condition vary.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.