Auction 75
Lot 122:
Masechet Kiddushin of the Bavli Talmud, printed and published by the Rom brothers – Vilna, 1912. Two title pages with red lettering. Fine wide margins. New binding.
The Tzaddik’s Amal Torah!
The entire volume indicates the diligence of its owner. On leaf 38 of Masechet Kiddushin, a gloss handwritten by Rabbeinu! The two title pages are professionally restored as well as some other leaves. Some of the leaves are torn and worn and the entire book indicates it was constantly studied. Fair overall condition.
On each one of the title pages, a stamp indicating who the owner of the volume was: "אליעזר האגער בה"הצ שליט"א מוויזניצא" – The Admor Rabbi Eliezer Hager, author of the Damesek Eliezer of Vizhnitz – This stamp was stamped in his father’s lifetime, who is referred to as Shlita.
The Admor Rabbi Eliezer Hager, author of the Damesek Eliezer of Vizhnitz (1891-1946), the son of the Ahavat Yisrael of Vizhnitz. His maternal grandfather was the Imrei Noam of Djikov. He was a great Talmid Chacham, Admor and Rosh Yeshiva of Vizhnitz. He received his Semicha from the Maharsham of Berzhan and Rabbi Shmuel Engel of Radomishla. During World War I, he lived in Vienna and was in contact with many leading rabbis who resided there because of the war, such as Rabbi Avraham Menachem Steinberg (the Machazeh Avraham).
In 1922 he was crowned Rav of Vizhnitz during his father’s lifetime, and a year later he established the Vizhnitz Yeshiva in the town. After his father’s passing in 1936 he began to serve as Admor. In 1940 he escaped Vizhnitz, which had been captured by the Russians, and settled in Temeshvar. He was a great Ohev Yisrael and sacrificed greatly to save Jews with food packages and rescue operations for Jews exiled to the Transnistria swamps, operations led by his brother the Mekor Baruch of Seret-Vizhnitz. He sold all of his possessions with this idea in mind, and luckily also managed to escape and move to Eretz Yisrael on the 26th of Nissan, 1944, where he established the Vizhnitz Yeshiva of Tel Aviv. A few months later he appointed his nephew to run it (Rabbi Moshe Yehoshua Hager, later the Admor the Yeshuot Moshe of Vizhnitz). A short time after his Aliyah he became sick and passed away in Elul 1946. He is buried on the Mt. of Olives beside the graves of Admorei Rachmastrivka.
Although he made efforts to print all of his Chiddushim, many of them were forever lost during the war. After his passing, some of his Divrei Torah were published in the book Damesek Eliezer on the Torah (1949), and on Tehillim (1958).
Share this lot:
