Auction 85 - Judaica: Books, Manuscripts, Rabbinical Letters, Ceremonial Art
Tikkun Sofrim, year-round Parashiot and Haftarot. Amsterdam: for Samuel Rodrigues Mendes, Moses Sarfati and David Gomes da Silva, 1726.
Birth and death records (in English) on back endpaper from 1795-1806, of the Henriques family in Jamaica. Signature of a family member dated 1857 at top of first title page.
Title pages with copper engravings by Bernard Picart. Divisional title page for Haftarot. Includes table of Torah readings for the festivals, and tables in Spanish (folding plates). Additional title page in Hebrew and Spanish.
[1], 329, [1], 330-445, [2] leaves, leaf 446, [8] leaves; [3] folding plates; 9-16 pages; [2] leaves (leaf 446 bound out of sequence). Approx. 16.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Gilt edges. Back endpaper with familial inscriptions partially torn, with damage to inscriptions. Original leather binding, with fine gilt decorations. Damage and worming to binding.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Printed leaf, Tena'im for Shavuot, original text by R. Zalman Branson. Chicago, Illinois, 1919.
Metaphorical Tena'im for the betrothal of the Torah to the Jewish people, based on the text of Tena'im for marriage.
In this unique Tena'im document, the groom is the Jewish people, while the bride is the Torah. The bride's side is represented by G-d, who commits to give 613 commandments as dowry; the groom's side is represented by Moses. The guarantors are the patriarchs, and the witnesses are heaven and earth. The wedding is to take place on Shavuot, with King David playing music and Aharon HaKohen blessing the bride and groom.
Several compositions of this kind exist, the first one being the Ketubah for Shavuot composed by R. Yisrael Najara, which is recited in certain communities on Shavuot.
The present item comprises a new, original text.
[1] leaf. 26 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Tears and folding marks.
Not listed in the Bibliography of the Hebrew Book nor in the NLI catalog.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Collection of proclamations, printed during the course of the polemic on the kashrut of meat in Toronto. [Toronto, first half of the 20th century].
Rare proclamations related to the polemic on the kashrut of meat in Toronto:
• Four proclamations in Yiddish, regarding the dispute between the two kashrut agencies in Toronto: Kehilla of Toronto (organization founded in 1923 to oversee the kashrut of meat in the city) and Vaad Ho'Ir ("City Committee", founded in the early 1930s, it apparently signed its proclamations as "The committee" or "The city").
1. Proclamation against a proclamation issued by "Moshe" and against "Price" (R. Avraham Aharon Price, 1900-1994, rabbi in Toronto from mid-1930s). Signed (in print): "Chaim and the committee".
2. "Jews of Toronto", proclamation in praise of R. Yisrael HaLevi Horowitz (1893-1979, rabbi in Toronto from 1928). Signed (in print): "The committee of 25 of the city".
3. "Rabbis – repent" – sharp proclamation against certain rabbis, and praise of R. Yisrael HaLevi Horowitz. Signed (in print): "The city".
4. "Appeal", proclamation addressed to Vaad Ho'Ir, call for peace issued by the Kehilla of Toronto.
• Large double leaf. Toronto, 1932. Long list of Jewish institutions in Toronto and names of their representatives, presumably for the purpose of nominating and electing the heads of the Kehilla of Toronto corporation, on the 12th and 20th of December. Names of institutions and their representatives in Yiddish and English. Altogether approx. 80 institutions and 225 representatives.
5 paper items. Size and condition vary.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
HaDerech – The Way, monthly published by the Kehilla of Toronto. 12 consecutive issues. Toronto, 1940-1941. Yiddish and English.
Issues nos. 1-12. Possibly no other issues were published.
The monthly was published "in the interest of Kashrut and traditional Judaism (as stated at the opening of the issues) by the Kehilla of Toronto, an organization founded in 1923 to oversee the kashrut of meet in the city. The editor was Jacob I. Wohlgelernter.
The monthly was established in attempt to resolve the chaos which prevailed in the first half of the 20th century regarding the kashrut of meat (see previous item).
One of the rabbis who stood behind the monthly was R. Yaakov Kamenetsky (1891-1986), later one of the Torah leaders of the United States, who served at that time as rabbi of Toronto (1938-1945). Notices in the present issues reveal that he was one of the two rabbis at the head of the Vaad Hakashrut of the Kehilla of Toronto, to whom one could turn to on any matters of kashrut and religion (the other was R. Yosef Weinreb, 1869-1943, first chief rabbi of Toronto, known as the "Galitzianer Rav"). The issues also include a letter and declaration by the two rabbis, as well as two essays composed by R. Yaakov Kamenetsky, one of them containing a sharp protest against the United Jewish Welfare (this essay appears twice, in English in issue 6 and in Yiddish in issue 8); the other essay contains notes in preparation for Passover – mostly on kashrut matters (Yiddish, issue 10).
Apart from essays and notices on kashrut matters, as well as many essays regarding education of the young generation, the issues contain interesting information regarding the efforts of Canadian Jewry on behalf of their brethren during the Holocaust, items about the war, advertisements for Jewish organizations such as the JNF, essays upon the passing of R. Dov Revel (Rabbi Dr. Bernard Revel, first president of RIETS in New York), an essay on kashrut by R. Shimshon Rafael Hirsch; and more. The issues also mention the names of many distinguished members of the Toronto community (surnames such as Korolnek, Tanenbaum, Shiff).
12 issues (dozens of leaves). Very good condition.
The monthly does not appear in OCLC nor in Ontario Jewish Archives, and is presumably bibliographically unknown. This may be a complete set of issues.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Regulations of the Ashkenazi community of the London Great Synagogue. London: Yehuda Leib son of Alexander, 1791.
Hebrew and Yiddish, with words taken from English.
Glossary of titles on leaf [2], with detailed definition of each title mentioned in the regulations, to prevent misinterpretation of the regulations.
Handwritten corrections and glosses in several places (Hebrew and English).
[4], 3-16, 18-52, [7] leaves. 19 cm. Good condition. Stains. Minor marginal open tears to title page and final leaf. Inscriptions. New binding.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Collection of booklets with prayer services for the installation ceremonies of the chief rabbis of Great Britain: R. Joseph Herman Hertz, R. Israel Brodie, R. Immanuel Jakobovits and R. Jonathan Sacks. London, [20th century]. English and Hebrew.
10 booklets, including:
• The Installation Sermon of The Very Rev Dr. Joseph Herman Hertz, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire. London, 1913.
• Sermon by The Very Reverend Rabbi Israel Brodie, on the occasion of his Installation as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth of Nations. London, 1948.
• Prelude to Service, A Selection of Statements, Letters and Interviews, by Dr. Immanuel Jakobovits, Prior to his Installation as Chief Rabbi. London, 1967.
• Address Delivered by Dr. Immanuel Jakobovits, at his Installation as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth of Nations. London, 1967.
• Order of Service at the Induction of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, as Minister of the Congregation, by the Chief Rabbi Dr. Immanuel Jakobovits. London, 1978.
• A Decade of Jewish Renewal, Address delivered by Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Sacks, on his Installation as Chief Rabbi. London, 1991.
10 booklets. Size and condition vary.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.