Three books of Rishonim on the Talmud, bound together: Chamisha Shitot – novellae of the Ramban, the Ran and the Ritva on several tractates (Sanhedrin, Makot, Gittin, Chulin and Niddah). Lviv (Lemberg), 1832. Bound with novellae of the Ran on Tractate Gittin [lacking title page – Sudylkiv? 1837?], and part of the book Shalosh Shitot VeLikutim – novellae of the Ramban on several tractates (Makot and Shevuot, without Avodah Zara) and selections by the Ramban on other tractates (Berachot, Eruvin, Rosh Hashanah and Megillah) – Zhovkva, 1828.
This is the copy of R. Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, Rabbi of Brisk, author of Beit HaLevi. Several pages of the book bear his stamp: " Yosef Dovber HaLevi Soloveitchik – Brisk, Lithuania". This stamp also appears (blurred) on the book’s first title page, together with another stamp of the Beit HaLevi in Russian, and a stamp of his son R. Simcha Soloveitchik (slightly blurred), also in Russian, from the time he served as rabbi of Mogilev (Mohilev).
The title page of Shalosh Shitot bears an earlier ownership inscription: "Aharon son of R. Meir"; p. 1a of Shalosh Shitot bears a handwritten scholarly gloss (of the aforementioned R. Aharon son of R. Meir?). A trimmed signature of the same R. Aharon appears at the beginning of the novellae of the Ran on Tractate Gittin.
R. Yosef Dov HaLevi Soloveitchik, the Beit HaLevi (1820-1894), was one of the greatest Torah scholars of his generation. He was the great-grandson of R. Chaim of Volozhin, and served for several years as dean of the Volozhin Yeshiva together with his relative the Netziv of Volozhin. Later, he served as rabbi in Slutsk and Brisk. He was renowned for his incredible astuteness and wisdom, in Torah scholarship, in homiletics and in community leadership. His Torah insights were known for their profundity, clarity, and originality, always capturing the essence of the topic at hand. His son, R. Chaim of Brisk, followed in his footsteps and is considered the forerunner of the analytical study method of the Lithuanian yeshivas. His books Beit HaLevi, of responsa and on the Torah, remain classics to this day.
His youngest son, R. Simcha HaLevi Soloveitchik (1879-1941), was one of the leading rabbis of Russia and the United States. From his youth, he was renowned for his remarkable genius. Orphaned at a young age from his father the Beit HaLevi, he resumed his Torah studies with his elder brother R. Chaim HaLevi, who succeeded his father as Rabbi of Brisk. In 1911, he was appointed Rabbi of Mogilev. In 1923, after WWI, he arrived in the US and served as Rabbi of the Tiferet Yisrael-Anshei Brisk community in Brooklyn.
[1], 100 leaves; 20 pp, 11-15, [1] leaves; [2], 20; 6; 2-19; [1] leaves. 36 cm. Good-fair condition. Wear to margins of the first title page and to the corners of the first leaves, affecting text (repaired with paper). Stamps. New binding.
This volume is composed of various books of novellae of the Rishonim on the Talmud. The first book, Chamisha Shitot, is complete, while the others are incomplete and arranged somewhat differently than in bibliographic records (see enclosed material). This was a common phenomenon at that time, to print in one book several compositions of the Rishonim on various tractates (printed in places such as Prague, Ofen, Lviv, Zhovkva, Sudylkov), and these books were also sold by section or combined and bound together with another book (on the same tractate) for the convenience of the learners (similar to the Kovetz Mefarshim books commonly used today).