13:44:51


[Login]   
[Book List]  
 
Bidding Information
Lot #    22806
Auction End Date    3/3/2009 10:07:00 AM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Talmud Torah
Title (Hebrew)    תלמוד תורה
Author    [Habad] R. Shneur Zalman of Liady
City    [Sudilkov]
Publication Date    c. 1820
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    [1], 31 ff., 164:98 mm., usual light age staining, nice margins, blue paper, ff. 1-2 misbound. A very good copy bound in modern cloth boards.
          
Detailed
Description		    R. Shneur Zalman of Lyady (1745–1813), founder of Habad Hasidism was, according to family traditions, born in Liozna, Belorussia, on the 18th of Elul. After his marriage in 1760 he devoted himself to Torah study. Concluding that he knew "a little about learning, but nothing about prayer" in 1764 he decided to learn about Hasidism from R. Dov Baer the Maggid of Mezhirech, leader of the hasidic movement. In Mezhirech he became one of the inner circle of the Maggid's pupils. He also studied as a friend and pupil with Abraham b. Dov Baer. Although R. Shneur Zalman was one of the youngest pupils, the Maggid had a high opinion of him, and in 1770 delegated to him the task of composing a new and up-to-date Shulhan Arukh. Shneur Zalman worked on this book for many years, but published only small parts of it. About one-third was printed posthumously (the rest had been destroyed by fire) and is known as the "Shulhan Arukh of the Rav" (1814). Though not a hasidic work, it represents - as the Maggid had intended - a great halakhic achievement. It evidences R. Shneur Zalman's superb Hebrew style, his ability to provide lucid explanation, and profundity without complexity. It became an authoritative halakhic source among the Hasidim of Lubavich. In 1774, during the early period of the opposition to Hasidism by traditional Jewry, R. Shneur Zalman and R. Menahem Mendel of Vitebsk went to Vilna in an attempt to meet with R. Elijah b. Solomon, the Gaon of Vilna, and reach some kind of understanding between the Hasidim and Mitnaggedim, but the Gaon did not agree to meet them. After R. Menahem Mendel went to Erez Israel with many of his followers, R. Shneur Zalman was left with two others as a deputy leader in Rydzyna (Reisen, Belorussia and adjoining areas). In 1788 R. Menahem Mendel formally appointed Shneur Zalman as hasidic leader of Reisen: this was really only a post facto appointment, as he already had many devoted personal pupils. It had become apparent that R. Shneur Zalman had created a distinct type of Hasidism, to become known as Habad.

R. Shneur Zalman was one of the great Jewish personalities of his age, as great a scholar in talmudic studies as in Kabbalah. He had a wide knowledge of science and mathematics, and his powers as a systematizer were enhanced by a fine style. Yet he was also a mystic, and deeply emotional; he composed hasidic melodies and was a charismatic leader. All these qualities blended in a strangely harmonious way. His work is masterly on every subject, an almost unique combination of mysticism and common sense. His other important works are Likkutei Torah (Zhitomir, 1848), Torah Or (1836), and Ma'amarei Admor ha-Zaken (1958–60).
          
Paragraph 2    מבעל המחבר ספר תניא ...

בשער: בשנת תקנ"ח. התאריך מזוייף. בראשי העמודים: הלכות תלמוד תורה. דף יט-לא: קונטרוס אחרון. נייר כחלחל. על-פי לבוב תקנ"ט. נוסח השער דומה. עם הסכמת ר' משה ליב מסאסוב, בשינויים קלים: איסור ההדפסה תוקן: במקום "שמנה שנים" ל"חמישה שנים", נשמט המשפט האחרון: "והעובר על דברי ... והשומע ישכון בטח ושאנן", ושונה תאריך ההסכמה לתקנ"ח במקום תקנ"ט. ברשימת פועלי הדפוס שבסוף הספר כל הפועלים חותמים ב'סדילקאב'. ראינו שני טפסים: באחד ההדפסה אחידה לאורך כל הספר, ובשני החל מדף כח (התחלת קונטרס ח) האותיות קטנות יותר. הדבר בולט במיוחד בכותרת שבראשי העמודים, שכאן אותיותיה קטנות מהכותרת שבדפים הקודמים. בטופס זה דף כט מסומן 'כק', ודף ל אינו מסומן (הדף האחרון חסר).

          
Reference
Description		    Mundschein, Torat Habad p. 8-12, # 3; CD-EPI 0181180; EJ
        
Associated Images
2 Images (Click thumbnail to view full size image):
  Order   Image   Caption
  1   Click to view full size  
  
  2   Click to view full size  
  
  
Listing Classification
Period
19th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Russia-Poland:    Checked
  
Subject
Halacha:    Checked
  
Kabbalah:    Checked
  
Characteristic
Blue Paper:    Checked
Language:    Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
  
Kind of Judaica