Auction 72
Lot 6:
Shut HaRashba, section III, contains 446 questions and answers by Rabbi Shlomo benAderet who is known as the Rashba, one of the leading Rishonim.
"Found handwritten"
First edition of this foundational book – Livorno, 1778. [2], 94 leaves. In the Rare Book Collection of the National Library, Stefansky, Sifrei Yesod, 266.
Fine margins. Stains. Some moth damage. Detached front board. Only remnants of the spine. Good overall condition.
Pedigreed copy!
This copy was owned by leading rabbis including Rabbi Eliezer Bergman [see below]. Beneath his signature, a lengthy notation handwritten by the Tzaddik Rabbi Yosef Zundel of Salant: "החלפתי עם הרב הג’ ר’ אליעזר בורגמאן פי’ על טהרות של הגר"א ועתה שייך זה הרשב"א לבהמ"ד מנחם ציון…". On the flyleaf, an additional notation handwritten by him: "שייך לבית המדרש מנחם ציון בחורבת רבינו יהודה החסיד זצ"ל…"
On the first leaf, a notation in Sephardic script (apparently, handwritten by the publisher Rabbi Chaim Avraham Yisrael of Ankona): "לשם גבוה הרב המובהק כמוה"ר רפאל יוסף ן’ רובי נר"ו" – Chacham Rabbi Raphael Even Ruby ben Rabbi Yehuda. One of the sages of Jerusalem, author of Derech Hamelech on the Rambam, who signed Shadarut documents alongside the Maharit Algazi and his Beit Din. He himself served as a Shadar. The Chida praises him and his work on the Rambam.
A single handwritten correction inside the book.
Rabbi Eliezer Bergman (1798-1852), one of the founders of the Holland and Deutschland Kollel (better known as Hod) and one of the builders of the old Yishuv of Jerusalem. Born in Heidenheim in Bavaria (Germany), son of the Rav of the city Rabbi Yosef Binyamin son of Rabbi Eliezer Bergman. At the age of 17, he studied in the famous Werzburg yehshiva with the author of the Aruch LaNer and Rabbi Yitzchak Dov Bamberger and Rabbi Nathan Adler (the second), later Av Beit Din of London. The yeshiva was led by Rabbi Avraham Bing, the rabbi of the province. He was always very active in the Mitzvah of settling in the Land of Israel and in 1828 he even went on a journey to the German cities to arouse people to the matter. In 1835 he immigrated to the Land of Israel and arrived in Sidon. He aspired to establish a community of immigrants from Germany there, but for some reason after four months, he moved to Jerusalem. He was later appointed as an emissary for Kollel Hod (Holland Deutschland), in which capacity he travelled several times to Western Europe. An eyewitness described his visit to the house of Anshel Rothschild in Frankfurt “when the rumor arrived that Rabbi Eliezer Bergman has come from Jerusalem via Mainz to Frankfurt the leaders and respected members of the community made preparations to set out in carriages and horses to greet him half an hour outside the city, and they led him with great honor to the house of one of the rich members of the community.” As well as being a communal activist and cloth merchant, Rabbi Bergman was a tremendous scholar, and his descendants have hundreds of pages of his Torah novaelle. He corresponded on halachic topics with many of the leading rabbis of his generation, such as the Ktav Sofer, Rabbi Yisrael of Shklov – who he refers to with glorious titles in his book Behar Yereah, his colleague in management of Kollel Hod Rabbi Yehosef Schwartz and others. He was also a member of the moetzah gedolah established by Rabbi Moshe Maggid, the leader of the Ashkenazi community of Jerusalem.
Rabbi Yosef Zundel of Salant (1786-1865), the founder of the Mussar movement and the Rav of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter. The Dayan of the Ashkenazic community in Jerusalem. He studied in the renowned Volozhin yeshiva under Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin. After his Rav’s passing, he moved to Pozna to study with Rabbi Akiva Eiger, to learn his unique approach to learning and his method.
He was also extremely knowledgeable in the field of engineering and math. He also spoke many languages and was fluent in general and Jewish history. He took an interest in grammar and tradition, and devised various rules of grammar that comply with the Vilna Gaon’s rules of grammar. In all of the books of the Churva of Rabbi Yehuda Hachasid, where he used to pray, he used to write “Lemidrash Menachem Zion”, as can be seen in this copy.
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