Kedushat HaAretz, selections from the Bible, Talmud, Midrash and Zohar, about the sanctity of the Land of Israel, by R. Moshe Wortmann (author of Romemut Nishmat Yisrael). Jerusalem: Yitzchak son of Tzvi [Gościnny], [1885].

Title page printed in gilt ink.

On verso of title page, signature of R. Shmuel Eliezer Wortman, grandson of the author, R. Moshe Wortman.

Signature on title page: "Eliyahu Moshe Maaravi". R. Eliyahu Moshe Maaravi (1873-1919), a leading kabbalist of Aleppo and Jerusalem, a disciple of HaRav HaSadeh who put his teachings down in writing, along with R. Yehudah Fetaya.

Another ownership inscription on title page of "Shlomo son of R. Meir HaKohen".

Stamp of author Alter Droyanov on title page.

The author,
R. Moshe Wortman of Kozhnitz (d. 1874), was renowned throughout Poland as a righteous scholar immersed in Torah day and night. He would frequent the courts of the great tzaddikim, including his teacher and mentor R. Chaim Meir Yechiel Shapiro, the Seraph of Mogielnica, his brother-in-law, R. Ze'ev of Józefów, and R. Yerachmiel of Peshischa. He would fast from one Shabbat to another for many years and would distribute all his wealth and possessions to widows and orphans. He immigrated to Jerusalem in 1860 and continued his lofty conduct. His other books include: Romemut Nishmat Yisrael, Tzedah LaDerech, Sefer HaChaim, Divrei Torah, Shivchei HaAretz HaKedoshah, and more.

[2], 1-43, 45-51 leaves. 15 cm. Dry, brittle paper. Good-fair condition. Stains. Small tears to margins of title page and other leaves (slightly affecting title frame). Uneven trimming, affecting headers of one leaf, and short margins on last leaf. Light worming. New binding.

Variant title page, in gilt ink. See Kedem, Auction 98, Lot 158, for a copy with the title page in black ink.

Sh. Halevy, No. 527.