Four volumes of the Babylonian Talmud, previously owned by R. Elazar Löw author of Shemen Roke'ach, with some hundred glosses in his handwriting, most of which are unpublished. Vienna: Anton Schmidt, 1811.
The volumes comprise: Tractates Arachin, Temurah, Keritot and Me'ilah.
Each volume contains dozens of glosses handwritten by the Shemen Roke'ach, mostly scholarly glosses; some are particularly lengthy. In a gloss on folio 11a of Tractate Me'ilah, the Shemen Roke'ach mentions his book: "See what I wrote in Torat Chessed, section 29…".
To the best of our knowledge, the glosses in Tractates Temurah, Keritot and Me'ilah (approx. sixty glosses) are unpublished. The glosses in Tractate Arachin (approx. 40 glosses) were printed based on this volume in Kerem Shlomo, issue 202 (1999).

4 volumes (Tractate Arachin lacking title page). Approx. 38 cm. Overall good condition. Stains, including large dampstains to several leaves. Tears and wear. Stamps. New leather bindings.

R. Elazar Löw (1758-1837) was a renowned and outstanding Torah scholar. He served for most of his life as rabbi in several prominent communities throughout Europe. In 1778, he was appointed rabbi of Piltz (Pilica; near Kraków). In 1801, he went to serve as rabbi of Trieschet (Třešť), Bohemia, and later served in other cities in Moravia and Hungary. He served as yeshiva dean for most of his life, and taught more than 1000 disciples, including many future Torah leaders. His son was the famed R. Binyamin Wolf Löw, author of Shaarei Torah. R. Elazar was a prolific writer and was famous for 13 works which he authored (12 were printed in his lifetime). A large part of his writings deal with Talmudic methodology. He pondered Torah even in his sleep and many of his novellae would appear to him in his dreams. Reputedly, his diligence and holiness were so profound that he would not break his fast on the night after Yom Kippur, studying the entire night, and every year on that night, he would merit the revelation of Eliyahu HaNavi (Zichron Elazar). His biographers extol the effectiveness of his prayers. In 1833, he was hit by lightning and became blind. Nevertheless, he continued studying from memory until his last days. At that time, his exceptional memory and proficiency in the entire Torah was apparent. The Chatam Sofer mentioned this in his eulogy: "He was blind for several years, yet this did not impair his amazing erudition and sharpness". The Chatam Sofer cites his books in several places, although he was his contemporary. R. Mordechai Banet stated in awe that his book "Shaarei Chochmah – Shev Shemateta" was "not composed by a human but rather by an angel, and the world has never seen anything like it". Although R. Elazar considered printing his books a G-dly mission, he never went into debt to print them: "He would not allow himself to print too much at once, fearing that he will not be able to pay the expenses... Therefore, he would print his novellae one part at a time… using the profits from the sale of each part to continue printing, for his sole aim was to magnify and strengthen the Torah" (Beit Asher Ohel Sarah, p. 103, at the beginning of Menuchat Asher, Brooklyn, 1963). In his testament, he requested that the names of all his books be inscribed on his tombstone.