Auction 63
Lot 10:
Sefer Toldot Adam on tractate Yevamot, authored by Rabbi Moshe Bar Nachman, the Ramban. First edition from an ancient manuscript – Hamburg, 1740. [1], 76, 79-102 leaves. Stefansky Sifrei Yesod no. 50. Approbations by leading Ashkenazic and Sephardic rabbis. On the last page, a poem praising the book by the editor.
Small format. Blemished leather binding. Restoration to title page. Moth damage. The edge of the poem at the end is trimmed. Fair overall condition.
On the title page, a dedication handwritten by the Gaon Rabbi Yosef Zundel of Salant " למדרש מנחם ציון" – that is how Rabbi Zundel called the Churvat Rabbi Yehuda HeChassid synagogue. On leaves 40 and 58, additional dedications using the letter that paginates the page. In addition, several stamps of the Churva Synagogue inside the book.
Rabbi Zundel of Salant (1786-1865), the founder of the Mussar movement and the Rav of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter. The Dayan of the Ashkenazic community of Jerusalem. He studied in the renowned Volozhin yeshiva under Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin. After his rabbi’s passing, he moved to Pozna to study with Rabbi Akiva Eiger, in order to learn his unique approach to learning and his method.
He was also extremely knowledgeable in the field of engineering and in math. He also spoke many languages and was fluent in general and Jewish history. He took an interest in grammar and tradition, devised various rules of grammar that comply with the Vilna Gaon’s rules of grammar. Rabbi Zundel greatly admired this subject because he saw it to require precise understanding of the material studied. In all of the books of the Churva of Rabbi Yehuda HeChassid, the place he prayed, he used to write “למדרש מנחם ציון”, as can be seen in this copy.
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