Maaseh Rav, practices of the Gaon of Vilna, by R. Yissachar Dov Ber of Vilna. Vilna and Horodna, 1832. First edition. Approbations by R. Chaim of Volozhin, R. Avraham Abele of Vilna and R. Avraham Danzig author of Chayei Adam.
First edition of one of the most important books regarding the practices of the Gaon of Vilna. The book describes the practices and rulings of the Gaon of Vilna, based on the personal testimonies of his disciples (see Maaseh Rav chapter).
The book was compiled and published by R. Yissachar Dov Ber of Vilna, who based himself on what he personally observed and on a testimony handwritten by R. Saadia, a disciple of the Gaon of Vilna, who did not depart from the presence of his teacher for many years.
Stamps of the Menachem Tzion Beit Midrash in Jerusalem. The front endpaper bears a gloss handwritten by the gabbai of the Beit Midrash, R. Yosef Zundel of Salant, regarding the custom of reciting Shir shel Yom on Sukkot, according to the Gaon of Vilna. In a brief handwritten gloss on p. 53, R. Zundel refers to his comment on the endpaper.
R. Yosef Zundel of Salant (1787-1866) was a foremost disciple of R. Chaim of Volozhin, disciple of the Gaon of Vilna, and the prime teacher of R. Yisrael of Salant. R. Zundel studied in the Volozhin yeshiva, and was attached to the yeshiva dean, R. Chaim of Volozhin, who recognized his great stature and admitted him into the circle of his closest disciples, to whom he transmitted all the teachings of his great teacher the Gaon of Vilna, in revealed and hidden realms of the Torah. R. Zundel was the main transmitter of the teachings of the Gaon of Vilna and R. Chaim of Volozhin. In his writings, which contain numerous excerpts and notes from their teachings and ways, he refers to R. Chaim of Volozhin as "my master and teacher" and to the Gaon of Vilna as "the great rabbi".
R. Yosef Zundel is considered the father of the mussar movement since he was the teacher of the movement's founder, R. Yisrael of Salant. In his youth in Salant, R. Yisrael cleaved to R. Yosef Zundel, who transmitted to him the teachings of the Gaon of Vilna, and under his directives began studying mussar intensely and disseminating the mussar approach to the multitudes.
Parts of his writings were published in the book HaTzaddik R. Yosef Zundel MiSalant VeRabbotav (Jerusalem, 1927), which includes his biography, his writings and the writings of his teachers R. Chaim of Volozhin and the Gaon of Vilna, of which he was the main transmitter. His prominent son-in-law was R. Shmuel Salant, who immigrated after him to Jerusalem and served as its rabbi for close to seventy years.
The Menachem Tzion Beit Midrash was the first Ashkenazi synagogue built by the disciples of the Gaon of Vilna in the Old City of Jerusalem, in the Churvah synagogue courtyard (the Menachem Tzion synagogue was inaugurated in 1836, while the Churvah of R. Yehuda HaChassid was only built several decades later). For close to thirty years, R. Yosef Zundel of Salant served as gabbai of the Beit Midrash and oversaw its important library.
[1], 67 pages. Lacking first title page. 18 cm. Thick, high-quality paper. Good-fair condition. Stains, dampstains. Wear and minor tears. Various inscriptions and stamps. New binding.
Vinograd, Thesaurus of the Books of the Vilna Gaon, no. 808.