Auction 8

Sefer Chayei HaMishnah and Sefer Tzror HaChaim—Jerusalem 1928. Copy owned by Rabbi Baruch Lebel, a leader of the Pressburg yeshiva. With interesting handwritten notes.

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Sefer Chayei HaMishnah and Sefer Tzror Hachaim, (1) listing the beginnings of mishnayot to make it easier to memorize them and (2) list of mishnayot for yahrzeits. [3] leaves, 208, [5] pages. Detached leaves, original (very worn) binding (detached). Moisture stains throughout the book. Stains, overall fair condition.


The book’s title page has the handwritten signature of Rabbi “Baruch Moshe Nehemiah Lebel of Jerusalem”. At the end is a handwritten list of dates of his parents’ deaths and his brothers’ deaths (Rabbi Shraga Feivel and Rabbi Chaim Eli’).

Rabbi Baruch Moshe Nehemiah Lebel (1889? – 11th Shvat 1951) was the son of Rabbi Menachem Mendel and grandson of Rabbi Yona Lebel (Mendelson), one of the Chatam Sofer’s greatest students. His mother Batya Rivka was the daughter of Rabbi Moshe Nehemiah Kahanov (Avdak of Cheslovitz and head of the Etz Chaim yeshiva, which he led at the request of Rabbi Shmuel Salant.

Rabbi Baruch was certified by gedolim before reaching the age of 20. He was known as a wondrous gaon and would sit with his Talmud all week. At the recommendation of Rabbi Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld he travelled to Pressburg in 1920 because of his health. There Rabbi Akiva Sofer (the Daat Sofer) noticed him and appointed him head of the Pressburg yeshiva (Or Torah LaTze’irim). He led that for 18 years before returning to Israel. He served as a gabbay at the Kollel Shomrei HaChomot and did a lot of tzedakah and chesed, mostly in secret. On Erev Shabbos, 11th of Svhat 1951, after purifying himself in a mikvah, he passed away.