Novellae on various tractates by the renowned zaddik, R. Israel ben Shabbetai Hapstein Kozienice (Koznitzer Maggid). There are several approbations, immediately followed by the text, which is on tractates Niddah, Berakhot, Eruvin, Shabbat, Rosh Ha-Shanah, Sukkah, Ketubbot, Kiddushin, and Nedarim. Beit Yisrael is considered the Koznitzer’s most important work.

R. Israel ben Shabbetai Hapstein of Kozienice (1733–1814) was a hasidic zaddik and preacher, born in Apta; one of the first propagators of Ḥasidism in Congress Poland. His teachers were R. Samuel Shmelke R. Horowitz of Nikolsburg, R. Dov Baer the Maggid of Mezhirech, R. Elimelech of Lyzhansk, and R. Levi Isaac of Berdichev, with whom he was on friendly terms. In his early years, Israel withdrew from society and became an ascetic. After the death of his father, a poor bookbinder, he moved to Przysucha where he earned his living as a teacher (melammed). He then settled in Kozienice where his eloquent preaching gained him the appellation the “Maggid of Kozienice.” R. Israel’s homilies were notable for their elegant structure and lucid exposition, even though they included much kabbalistic symbolism, and had a great impact on his listeners. He would admonish them “with pleasing and sweet persuasion and not with hard words” (Avodat Yisrael, Avot). On the role of the preacher he taught: “He who reproves people and teaches them the Law and the word of God must have insight into the heart of every single one of them, even of the very wicked.” However, R. Israel became noted mainly for his activity as a ẓaddik. Many followed him because of his whole-hearted approach to the worship of God and his ecstatic mode of prayer through Devekut. According to Israel, the principal duty of the ẓaddik was to give spiritual guidance to his followers and assist them in divine worship. The devotion to God by the ẓaddik is a dynamic action through which those under his protection also attain devotion to God. Thus the ẓaddik elevates the spirit of the average man and brings him nearer to the Creator, which is the aim of Ḥasidism. However, the simple man will never attain the heights which the ẓaddik himself reaches. As a "practical ẓaddik" Israel gained great popularity, actively assisting his followers apart from his duties of spiritual guidance. He thus cared for the welfare, children, and livelihood of his Ḥasidim and even distributed remedies and amulets. R. Israel took steps against the opponents of Ḥasidism and tried, unsuccessfully, to prevent the printing of anti-ḥasidic works appearing in Warsaw in the late 18^th century. A man of the people, he spiced his discourse with proverbs. With his friend R. Jacob Isaac ha-Ḥozeh of Lublin he was among the principal disseminators of Ḥasidism of the school of R. Israel b. Eliezer Ba'al Shem Tov in the interior of Poland. He had a profound knowledge of both traditional and esoteric learning, and participated with the greatest scholars of his time in a halakhic discussion on the question of the agunah. His principal halakhic work is Beit Yisrael (Warsaw, 1864). His tractates on the Kabbalah testify to his great esoteric knowledge. A ḥasidic story relates "that before he traveled to the Maggid of Mezhirech he studied 800 books on Kabbalah and after all that when he came to the holy Maggid of blessed memory he realized that he had not yet learned anything" (Toledot Adam le-Shabbat Ḥanukkah).

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Hemdat Shelomo, R. Solomon Zalman Lipschitz, Warsaw 1877 - Discourses and halakhic novellae by R. Solomon Zalman Lipschitz, , first chief rabbi of Warsaw. The title page notes the twofold nature of the work, describing the discourses as “sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb” (Psalms 19:11), intended to draw the hearts of Israel to their Father in heaven. The novellae are described as deep, selected halakhot “set on sockets of truth” (cf. Song of Songs 6:15) and righteousness, taken form the writings of R. Lipschitz. There are introductions from R. Lipschitz’s grandsons who published this edition of Hemdat Shelomo. The text is comprised of twenty-six discourses, primarily on festivals, followed by likkutei halakhot on several Talmudic tractates.

R. Solomon Zalman Lipschitz (1765–1839), Polish rabbi, first chief rabbi of Warsaw, known as "Hemdat Shelomo" after his works of that name. Lipschitz, who was of a wealthy family whose members included the kabbalist Solomon Zalman Auerbach (17th century), was born in Poznan. Until he was 40 years old he lived and studied there, and therefore was also known as R. Solomon Zalman Posner. In 1804, after he had lost his fortune and his father-in-law was unable to continue to support him, he became rabbi of Nasielsk, where he also founded an important yeshivah. R. Lipschitz was unable to bear the atmosphere of Nasielsk, which was becoming increasingly hasidic. In 1806 he received a call to be rabbi of his home town, but he refused in order to protect his children from the influence of the Haskalah, which had spread from Germany. In 1819 he was elected rabbi of Praga (a suburb of Warsaw) where there was a large Jewish population. With the development of the Warsaw kehillah, he was appointed rabbi of the community (1821). There, too, he founded an important yeshivah. Among its students were many who later became Polish rabbis. As chief rabbi of Warsaw, he led the opposition to the Haskalah movement, the assimilationists, and the rabbinical seminary established there, which became a stronghold of assimilation under the direction of Anton Eisenbaum. During the Polish insurrection against the czarist regime in 1831, R. Lipschitz opposed Jews joining the city guard as they would have been obliged to shave off their beards. He was in halakhic correspondence with many contemporary rabbis, including R. Akiva Eger, R. Moses Lorbeerbaum, R. Jacob of Lissa (Leszno), R. Meir Weyl of Berlin, R. Abraham Tiktin, and R. Aryeh Leib Zinz, and many rabbis turned to him with their halakhic problems. His responsa and decisions are cited in the halakhic works of many Polish rabbis. When he died, a month of mourning was proclaimed. A special announcement issued by the community forbade women to wear jewelry during that month. Lipschitz is the author of three works, all entitled Hemdat Shelomo: responsa (Warsaw, 1836); novellae on various tractates of the Talmud (3 pts., 1851–92); and sermons (1890). Some of his original letters were saved from the Holocaust but have not been published.

Hebrew Description

... על איזה מסכתות [נדה, ברכות, עירובין, שבת, ראש השנה, סוכה, כתובות, קדושין, נדרים] ... הובא לבית הדפוס ע"י ... מו"ה ישראל משה בהמנוח מו"ה יהודא ז"ל מק"ק לאדז ...

למעשה לא נדפסו כאן אלא הדפים [2], מג-קז, ואילו יתר הדפים הם מן ההוצאה הראשונה. בשולי השער: (אותיות קיריליות). עם הסכמות ר' ישעי' מושקאט ור' יעקב דוד [קאליש] מן ההוצאה הראשונה והסכמות חדשות: ר' יצחק מאיר [אלטר] בהרב מור"י [ר' ישראל רוטענבערג], גור, מב למב"י [כז אייר] תרכ"ה; ר' חיים אליעזר [!] וואקס, קאליש, יג שבט תרכ"ו.