Auction 61
Lot 52:
Sefer Haminhagim – the customs of Chabad. "Compiled from the writings and lists of the presidents of Chabad and their oral instructions". Published by Kehat Kfar Chabad 1972. Beige printed cover. Good condition.
The book contains many handwritten comments by the Kabbalist Tzaddik Rabbi Yosef Woltuch. The comments deal with the entire Dinim and Minhagim of the year. He also introduces varied Halachic and Kabbalistic sources for the customs introduced in the book. Some comments express wonder or doubt. In one place, he notes "Unlike the Ger Chassidim".
The Tzaddik Kabbalisr Rabbi Yosef Woltuch was a descendant of Rabbi Yechiel Michl of Zlotchov. In his youth, he lived in the Old City of Jerusalem, and every day he would sneak into the Beit El kabbalistic yeshiva, study the ways of the kabbalists, and sleep very little. His minhag was to lay next to the graves of tzaddikim and he merited wonderful visions and sight of the souls of tzaddikim. However, he would take care not to go to Rashbi’s tomb on Lag B’Omer because of the large number of people there. It is said that during one of his prayers to bring about the Geulah he merited seeing Rachel Imenu wearing black clothes.
Despite his suffering, he worked Hashem with happiness and excitement.
In Iyar 1983 he told a student that if Hashem willed it he would settle in Jerusalem and he went with two students to daven at the graves of tzaddikim in the Galilee. When he left Meron he told them that he didn’t feel well. They continued to the Idra cave to pray, and he told them again that he didn’t feel well. He asked for some soda water, so they went to Tzfat to buy him. When Rabbi Yosef finished the blessing over the soda, he fainted, was taken to the hospital in Tzfat, and passed away.
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