Auction 88 - Part II - Unique Items and Early Printed Books
Three notebooks handwritten by the kabbalist, R. Yehuda Leib Ashlag, the Baal HaSulam. [Eretz Israel, ca. 1920s].
Three works on kabbalah and the Zohar, handwritten by the Baal HaSulam. The works are titled on the notebook wrappers: Kishrei HaTzinorot – essays on kabbalistic topics (heading on p. 12 dated 1922), Likutei Zohar VeSidrei Meorot – homilies, commentaries and novellae on the Zohar and kabbalistic concepts (dated 1923 in several places) and Terumat Netzach Part II – Noach, Lech, Vayera, Chaye Sara – kabbalistic commentaries and novellae on the Torah portions, and more (dated 1923).
The three notebooks are filled with neat, close writing (approx. 30-40 lines per page, some in two columns), and comprise three different works (or parts of works). To the best of our knowledge, these works are unpublished.
R. Yehuda Leib Ashlag (1884-1954), outstanding Torah scholar, kabbalist, and thinker. He served as rabbi in Warsaw, later immigrating to Jerusalem where he delivered many classes on kabbalah to elite Torah scholars. With time, a large group of disciples and Chassidim gathered around him, and appointed him their rebbe. He composed and published many works on kabbalah, most famously Talmud Eser Sefirot and the Sulam commentary on the Zohar.
Three notebooks: [27] written pages; [28] written pages; 31 written pages. Approx. 21 cm. Neat, close writing (approx. 30-40 lines per page). Good-fair condition. Dampstains and foxing. Wear. Several detached leaves. Ink on several pages smudged due to dampness (script remains legible).
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Three notebooks documenting the names of those buried in the Safed cemetery, in 1914-1962. Some of the records include the location of the burial plot.
The present notebooks serve as a most important source of information (some of which is not known from any other source), and contain records of close to one thousand names of Jews buried in the Safed cemetery in those years.
Almost all the records contain the name of the deceased, his father's name, and the date of death (or burial), and some include the surname, hometown and cause of death. One of the notebooks documents the locations of the graves.
The Safed cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in Eretz Israel. Some of the graves date back to the time of the Tana'im and Amora'im, Geonim and Rishonim. Ongoing neglect, earthquakes, floods and other causes resulted in many graves and headstones getting lost over the years. Additionally, the neglect gave rise to the phenomena of unsupervised burials without headstones (hence the importance of the present notebooks, which can help identify unknown burial plots and gravestones which have faded over time). A massive restoration project of the cemetery was undertaken during the early 1990s, and it continues until this day.
The present notebooks were written by R. Yosef Tzvi Geiger and his son R. Eliyahu Geiger, who were the heads of the Chevra Kaddisha in the city. Leaves with additional notes are enclosed. The notebooks also include various notes handwritten by R. Yosef Tzvi Geiger.
3 notebooks + additional leaves. Size and condition vary. Altogether over 145 written pages, some closely written in tiny hand.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Regulations of the Safah Berurah society – a society for the propagation of the Hebrew language, active in Jerusalem in the late 19th century. [Jerusalem, 1889].
Leaf printed on both sides. One side features nine clauses defining the character and purpose of the Safah Berurah society, as well as the means to attain their goals. The verso features the printed signatures of the four founders: R. Yaakov Meir (later Rishon LeTzion), Eliezer ben Yehuda (editor of the HaTzvi newspaper, "reviver" of the Hebrew language), R. Chaim Hirschensohn (educator and proponent of Religious Zionism), and Chaim Calmi (educator, emissary and member of the Vaad HaEdah HaSefardit in Jerusalem).
The founders' signatures are followed by approbations by rabbis and leaders of the Old Yishuv in Jerusalem: Yitzchak d'Arbela, president of the society (director of the Rothschild hospital in Jerusalem); R. Refael Meir Panigel, Rishon LeTzion; R. Yaakov Shaul Elyashar, rabbi of the Sephardi community (later Rishon LeTzion); the printer R. Nissan Bak (son of the printer R. Yisrael Bak), Efraim Kohen (director of the Lemel school).
Two variants of this leaf exist. The present copy features, after the regulations, the assumed approval of R. Shmuel Salant to the founding of the society: "R. Shmuel Salant is presently in Hebron, and we are assured that he would not oppose this noble idea, and would even rejoice with it". In other copies, this sentence was omitted.
Wishing their idea to receive widespread acceptance, the society's founders attempted to get the backing of the leaders of both the Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities. Since the support of the Sephardi rabbis was contingent upon the approval, or at least lack of opposition, of the Ashkenazi leadership, representatives of the society set out to obtain the approbation of R. Shmuel Salant, but the latter was in Hebron at that time. Since time was pressing, they printed the present leaf, assuming that R. Shmuel Salant would have given his approval had he been asked. Upon his return, R. Shmuel Salant refused to give his approbation to the society, and the leaf was reprinted with the omission of his supposed approval. It is the latter version that was spread and published in the press of those times.
[1] leaf. 34 cm. Good condition. Folding marks. Stains and minor wear. Marginal open tear, not affecting text.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Plan of the Future Temple in Yechezkel, by the Gaon of Vilna – plate from the book Tavnit HaBayit HaShlishi with the commentary of the Gaon of Vilna, printed in Berlin 1822.
Hand-colored. Four small drawings of fruit trees were added between the walls of the Temple and the Temple Mount walls.
45X38 cm. Fair condition. Dark stains. Tears, including several minor open tears affecting illustration, repaired. Leaf professionally restored with paper.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
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