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Correspondence and halakhic pronouncements from leading rabbinic authorities on the Meir Ba’al ha-Nes Fund, ordered and arranged by R. Hayyim Nathan ben Jekuthiel Zalman Dembitzer. R. Dembitzer was a strong advocate of that fund, as indicated by this work. The title page states that it includes approbations and letters from the leading rabbis of the generation concerning monetary contributions for Erez Israel. It is prohibited under any circumstance to reallocate donations to the Meir Ba’al ha-Nes Fund to another charity, except for the poor of Erez Israel. This was established by the rabbis of Erez Israel, among them the Beit Yosef and R. Moses Alshikh. This decree was renewed by the most prominent rabbis in the diaspora, in Poland, Lita, Galicia, Russia, and elsewhere. The verso of the title page has an introduction from R. Dembitzer, followed by the text. In addition to the letters from leading authorities Meginei Eretz Israel also has approbations from rabbinic authorities.
R. Hayyim Nathan ben Jekuthiel Zalman Dembitzer (1820–1892) was a talmudist and historian. He was born in Cracow and became a dayyan in his native city. His father, Jekuthiel Solomon, a scholarly merchant who claimed he was a descendant of R. Moses Isserles, died in 1833, aged forty-one. In 1856 Dembitzer became a dayyan in his native city, and was, like his older brother Jacob, advanced to the position of rosh bet din, which he held till his death. Active in financial support of the old yishuv in Erez Israel, R. Dembitzer urged scholars to renew their support for the R. Meir Ba'al ha-Nes Fund (1852). His first research was devoted to responsa literature and the tosafists. Dembitzer became noted for historical research and critical work in the field of talmudic and rabbinic literature and its leading personalities. As early as 1841 he had begun correspondence on biographical and historical subjects with such well-known rabbis as R. Solomon Kluger and R. Zevi Hirsch ben Meir Chajes. A visit to Germany in 1874 brought him in touch with such contemporary scholars as H. Graetz, Z. Frankel, L. Zunz, and D. Kaufmann, who influenced him to publish his work. His works include: Livyat Hen (1882), notes and glosses on the work of Ravyah (R. Eliezer b. Joel ha-Levi); Kelilat Yofi, volume one (1888), a historical survey of the Lvov rabbis, and volume two (1893, repr. 1960), biographies of famous rabbis from Poland-Latvia from 1493 to 1692, including information on Polish Jewish independent government; essays on the Council of Four Lands; and Torat Hen (1895), halakhic responsa.
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... הועלה עוד הפעם על מכבש הדפוס (בצירוף ... תמצית מכתבים ... להרבנים מנהלי ועד כוללות אחינו האשכנזים ... כמבואר בס' "גבול עולם" [ירושלם תרס"ג] ... [על-ידי] חיים דוד סורנאגה) ...
דף [3]: הערות ר' אלי' דוד [ראבינאוויץ-תאומים].
עמ' עט-קכב: "משפט וצדקה", מספר "גבול עולם".
ראינו טופס הכולל [2] דף, ג-עט עמ'. בטופס זה חסרים: הדף עם הערות ר' אלי' דוד ראבינאוויץ-תאומים ו"משפט וצדקה"; ההקדמה נדפסה בדף [2, א] וההסכמות בדף [2, ב]. בטופס השלם נדפסה ההקדמה מעבר לשער וההסכמה בדף [2, א].
יתכן שתחילה נדפסה המהדורה המצומצמת (ללא "משפט וצדקה") ואחר כך הרחיבו את הספר (דף עט נדפס בשתי צורות?). כפי שנאמר כאן, הערותיו של האדר"ת באו לידי המולי"ם "אחרי הדפסת הספר" ולכן לא צורפו למהדורה הראשונה. הסכמות: ר' יעקב שאול אלישר ור' חיים חזקיאו מדיני, אב תרס"ד;
ר' שמואל סלאנט ור' אליהו דוד ראבינאוויץ תאומים, ירושלם, אב תרס"ד. |
