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Bidding Information
Lot #    24039
Auction End Date    7/7/2009 11:21:00 AM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Shenei Luhot ha-Berit (She-La-H)
Title (Hebrew)    שני לוחות הברית (של'ה)
Author    [Kabbalah] R. Isaiah b. Abraham Horowitz ha-Levi
City    Frankfort am Oder
Publisher    Mikhel Gutshalk
Publication Date    1717
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    [3 of 4], 263 [of 422, 44] ff., 312:199 mm., age and damp staining, wide margins, old hands, minor scattered worming, bound in modern boards. Lacking: Illustrated title, ff. 25-38, 264-end.
          
Detailed
Description		    A monumental and extensive work on halakhah, homily, and Kabbalah combined for the purpose of giving directions as to how to live an ethical life. First published in Amsterdam, 1649 with many later editions by his son R. Shabbetai who offered as an introduction his own Vavei ha-Ammudim. Shelah wrote it "for his children after him" but for general guidance also. The work contains excerpts of homilies and comments which he had noted before going to Erez Israel, but it was arranged and completed in Erez Israel. Among the works which influenced him or which he recommended for study, Shelah mentions most ethical works, from Bahya's Hovot ha-Levavot to his father's Berit Avraham. The Shelah has a preface entitled Toledot Adam and a kabbalistic introduction called Be-Asarah Ma'amarot. The book consists of two parts, Derekh Hayyim, containing laws according to the order of the festivals in the calendar, and Luhot ha-Berit, summarizing the 613 commandments in the order in which they appear in the Bible. There are three sections: Ner Mitzvah, dealing with the various precepts; Torah Or, elucidating the reasons for the precepts according to Kabbalah; and Tokhahat Musar, summarizing the ethical teachings stemming from the various precepts. The laws for every day of the year are arranged in the framework of tractates: those for ordinary days in tractate Hullin, for the Sabbath in tractate Shabbat, etc. The author deals with the 13 hermeneutical rules for interpreting the Torah and also discusses talmudic methodology. Shelah gave instructions that the last section of his work, called Asarah Hillulim, should not be published, since he wrote it as a testament to his children and pupils; nevertheless, his son R. Shabbetai Sheftel permitted its publication, commenting that the whole world was included among his pupils (introduction to the Vavei ha-Ammudim).

R. Horowitz, (called Shelah ha-Kadosh, "the holy Shelah," from the initials of the title of his major work), rabbi, kabbalist, and communal leader was born in Prague, but as a youth he moved to Poland with his father, who was his first teacher. He studied there under Rabbi Solomon b. Judah of Cracow, Rabbi Meir of Lublin (the Maharam), and Rabbi Joshua Falk and gained a reputation among Polish scholars while still young. In 1621, after the death of his wife, he moved to Erez Israel and settled in Jerusalem, where he remarried and became the rabbi of the Ashkenazi community. He died in Tiberius where his grave (close to that of Maimonides) is still visited. His name carries with it the surname “The Holy” as he dedicated his life and work to the Jewish nation.
          
Paragraph 2    ... נדפס ... במצות האלוף מוהר"ר גרשון במהור"ר נפתלי הירש ז"ל לנג לוז ממגורשי ק"ק ווינא ממשפחת איטיגנן ... בשנת ב'ע'ת'ה' אחישנה

מד דף, עם שער מיוחד: הקדמת ספר ווי העמודים ... הוציא לאורה ... אב"ד ... ר' שעפטל זצלה"ה סג"ל ואור תורתו היה זורח בק"ק פוזנא ... נדפס ... במצות האלוף מהור"ר גרשון ווינר מפרנק פורט דאדרה. פרנק פורט דארד[!], שם הליכות עולם לו [תע"ז]. נדפס ללא מפתחות. שני שערים. השער הראשון מצוייר. חיקוי של אמשטרדם תנ"ח.

הסכמות: ר' נפתלי ב"ר יצחק כ"ץ, ברעסלי, א מנחם[-אב] תע"ו; ר' שמחה ב"ר נחמן כץ רפאפורט, לובלין, בין כסא לעשור תע"ו; ר' גבריאל [עשקעלעס] מקראקא, ניקלשפורג, כג אלול תע"ו; ר' יהושע פייבל ב"ר יונה תאומים, פרעמסלא, כב אלול תע"ו; ר' אהרן [ב"ר בנימין וואלף האמבורג] בעל נ"ב [נחלת בנימין], פ"פ [פראנקפורט] דאדר, ד ניסן תע"ז; ר' יחיאל מיכל ב"ר יהודא ליב [חתן ר' בנימין וואלף הנז'], ברלין, ה אדר תע"ז; ר' בצלאל ב"ר נפתלי הכהן, אוסטרא, ערב-ראש השנה תע"ז; ר' יהודה ליב [ב"ר משה], גלוגא רבתי, כד [מר]חשון תע"ז; ר' עזריאל זעליג ב"ר יהודא ליב מגלוגא, קאליש, כד אלול תע"ז.
          
Reference
Description		    EJ; Zinberg, Sifrut, 3 (1958), 221–25; A. Shochat, in: Zion, 16 (1951), 36–38; S. M. Chones, Toledot ha-Posekim (1910), 580–83; Frumkin-Rivlin, 1 (1929), 146–58; CD-EPI 0119850
        
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Listing Classification
Period
  
18th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Germany:    Checked
  
Subject
  
Kabbalah:    Checked
  
Characteristic
Language:    Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
  
Kind of Judaica