Physical Description:

Part 4-5 (of 5) only. 199; 6, 5-102pp., quarto, 194:223 mm., extra wide margins, light age and damp staining, stamps of previous owners erased from title. A good copy bound in modern cloth over boards.

Detailed Description:   

R. Shneur Zalman of Liady (1745–1813), the founder of Habad hasidism. He 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. Although he 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. R. 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 observant Jews.

In 1847 the Shapira printing press was established by the three brothers Hanina Lipa, Aryeh Leib, and Joshua Heschel Shapira, sons of R. Samuel Abraham Abba Shapira, the printer in Slavuta. Until 1862 this was one of the only two Hebrew presses the Russian government permitted to operate in the whole of Russia, the other being in Vilna. This press had 18 hand presses and four additional large presses. In 1851 Aryeh Leib broke away and established his own printing press in Zhitomir. In these two establishments only sacred books of every kind were printed.

Hebrew Description: