17:56:26
There R. Attar established the Midrash Keneset Israel Yeshiva, which had one division for advanced and one for young scholars. He acted as head of the former division which did not study the Talmud with the commentaries, but concentrated on the codes and their connection with the talmudic sources. Special attention was paid to reconciling the decisions of Maimonides with the Talmud. Rishon le-Ziyyon (Constantinople, 1750) whose author was apparently R. David Hasan, is the fruit of those researches. It contains novellae on the Shulhan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah, and Maimonides, as well as a commentary on the Prophets, the five scrolls, and Psalms, Proverbs, and Job. The students indulged in ascetic practices, spending their nights in supplication and prayer for the redemption and peace of Diaspora Jewry. The group also used to prostrate themselves in prayer on holy graves in supplication for the Jewish community. R. H. J. D. Azulai, who studied at the "Midrash," describes it in reverential terms, and in his works he gives details of Attar's customs as well as sermons and explanations which he heard from him. R. Attar passed on approximately a year after settling in Jerusalem.
בשער: בשנת רא'שון לציון הנה' ה'נם ולי'רושלים מ'ב'ש'ר' א'תן [תקס"ד]. ההסכמה מחלק א בחתימתו של ר' אברהם דוב אווערבך בלבד. נייר כחלחל. שם המדפיס לפי ספרו של ח"ד פרידברג, תולדות הדפוס העברי בפולניה, תל-אביב תש"י, עמ' 102. הספר נדפס ראשונה בתוך "ראשון לציון" על הש"ס, רמב"ם ויורה דעה, קושטאנדינה תק"י.הסכמה: ר' לוי יצחק האב"ד ור"מ בק"ק בארדיטשוב, ר' אברהם דוב אווערבך, אב"ד דפה פולנאה ודק"ק חמעלניק, יז שבט תקס"ט. - א א: על יהושע, שופטים, שמואל א, שמואל ב, ישעיה, יא, יג-יח דף. ב: על משלי, [יט]-לד, לז-מא דף.