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Likkutei Amarim, R. Menahem Mendel ben Moses of Vitebsk, Lvov 1911

לקוטי אמרים - Hasidic

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Details
  • Lot Number 46226
  • Title (English) Likkutei Amarim
  • Title (Hebrew) לקוטי אמרים
  • Note Hasidic
  • Author R. Menahem Mendel ben Moses of Vitebsk
  • City Lvov
  • Publisher St. Kuebler
  • Publication Date 1911
  • Estimated Price - Low 200
  • Estimated Price - High 500

  • Item # 1271384
  • End Date
  • Start Date
Description

Physical Description

Only edition, octavo, 58, 48 ff. 220:145 mm., wide margins, usual age staining A very good copy bound in modern boards.

 

Detail Description

Only edition of the writings, teachings, and correspondence of the influential and early Hassidic teacher R. Menahem Mendel ben Moses of Vitebsk. There are very numerous approbations from prominent rabbis. The text is in two parts, the first R. Menahem Mendel’s teachings and ways in Hassidus, the second the correspondence.

R. Menahem Mendel ben Moses of Vitebsk (1730–1788) was a ḥasidic leader active in Belorussia, Lithuania, and Ereẓ Israel. He was a disciple of R. Dov Baer, the Maggid of Mezhirech, and headed a congregation in Minsk during the lifetime of his teacher; in Zemir Ariẓim ve-Ḥarvot Ẓurim (Warsaw, Bialystok, 1798), a pamphlet written by one of the Mitnaggedim , he is mentioned by the name of Mendel of Minsk. When the first wave of opposition to Ḥasidism erupted (1772), he visited Vilna on two occasions – on the second occasion, accompanied by his disciple R. Shneur Zalman of Lyady and attempted to meet R. Elijah b. Solomon the Gaon of Vilna in order to point out to him the merits of Ḥasidism, but the Gaon refused to receive him and "he closed the door upon us twice." Ḥasidic tradition also regards him as one of the leading spokesmen at the meeting which was convened in Rovno in the house of Dov Baer after the imposition of the ḥerem on the Ḥasidim in 1772. The persecutions of the Mitnaggedim made him leave Minsk, and in 1773 he settled in Gorodok, from where he spread Ḥasidism in the Vitebsk and Mogilev provinces (assisted by R. Israel of Polotsk, R. Abraham b. Alexander Katz of Kalisk , and R. Shneur Zalman of Lyady).

In 1777 R. Menahem Mendel went to Ereẓ Israel, accompanied by R. Abraham of Kalisk and R. Israel of Polotsk, at the head of a group of 300 persons, of whom only some were Ḥasidim. He became the leader of the ḥasidic yishuv, and sent emissaries to Russia in order to raise funds for its support. In Ereẓ Israel Ḥasidic immigrants also encountered hostility among the Jewish community, as a result of the initiative of some Mitnaggedim, who addressed special letters on the subject to Ereẓ Israel. In the wake of the disputes which broke out, R. Menahem Mendel moved to Tiberias, where he erected a ḥasidic synagogue. He became related by marriage to one of the prominent Sephardim of Jerusalem. After his arrival in Ereẓ Israel R. Menahem Mendel remained the spiritual leader of the Ḥasidim of Belorussia, who maintained a correspondence with him. He continued to guide them in their conduct and interpreted the principles of Ḥasidism to them. Menahem Mendel did not consider himself to be a ẓaddik who could bless his Ḥasidim with the bounties of Heaven. He regarded his function of ẓaddik as being restricted to teaching and guidance in divine worship and not as that of a "practical" ẓaddik. In his teachings, Menahem Mendel remained faithful to those of the Maggid. Following him, he regarded the ẓimẓum (contraction) of divine emanation and its restriction as a condition for revelation, because that which is not limited cannot be conceived, just as thought is conceived by restriction and contraction into letters. The worlds were created by divine will as an act of mercy, by the contraction of the divine emanation, because of the deficiency of the recipients. "When one teaches a small child, he must be instructed in accordance with his young intelligence … in accordance with the ability of reception of his mind" (Likkutei Amarim (1911), 17a). Divinity is restricted in every place (the world is not His abode, but He is the abode of the world). It is the duty of man to adhere to the Divinity in the material creation and to redeem the Divine Presence from its exile in the material world. This can be achieved by various methods:

(1) By widening the conception of man as the wisest and most capable of understanding, "when he has attained wisdom and studies the Torah, he then creates new heavens and a new earth" (ibid.). (2) By devekut (devotion) to God. Man is a part of the Celestial Divinity. The root of his soul is to be found in the world of Aẓilut (emanation) and he is therefore able to commune with God without the obstruction of any interruption or barrier.R.  Menahem Mendel emphasizes prayer with devotion and kavvanah (intention). "With his prayer, he is a groomsman who brings the Divine Presence before God" (ibid., 31b). In order to attain the virtue of devekut: (a) "He must consecrate his person and his meditation to wisdom to the extent that he, so to say, has no further existence," i.e., spiritual self-denial. (b) By self-abnegation in the moral aspect and by the cultivation of other ethical values, such as humility, compassion, etc. With the consciousness of his own worthlessness, he is to regard himself as naught so that he become enwrapped with awe (as a result of which he will rise to speculative contemplation), which is the gateway to love. This degree of love will attach him to all men and his spiritual elevation will be followed by the uplifting of all of them in perfect contact and devekut. 3) By the observation of the precepts it is within the power of man to knit together the whole of the world, to control it and exert his influence in the heavenly spheres; he should therefore accustom all his limbs to the precepts. When observing a precept, he must realize that the reward of the precept is the actual observance of the precept itself (the observance of the precept for its own sake). Similarly, he emphasizes that there must be fear of sin and not fear of punishment. He stresses the importance of faith even beyond logic and rational reason. His main works were Peri ha-Areẓ (Kopys, 1814); Periha-Eẓ (Zhitomir, 1874); Eẓ Peri (Lvov, 1880); Likkutei Amarim (Lvov, 1911). His letters appeared in Nefesh Menaḥem (Lvov, 1930).

 

Hebrew Description:

... אשר יצאו ממקור... ר' מנחם מענדל מוויטעפסק... מ"מ בעה"ק טבריא... סדרו והגיהו אף הציב לו ציונים... ר' בנימין בן ר' ישראל שמערלער נ"י מתושבי סטאניסלאב... והקרבתיו על מזבח הדפוס... אליעזר אלימלך הלוי איש הורוויטץ מדאלינא... בלאא"מ ... ר' משה מנחם נ"ע ממיידאן... נדפס ע"י ר' שלום צווערלינג... חלק א-ב.

חלק א: בעמקי החסידו' אמרות טהורות... אפס קצה... נדפס זה כביר בספרי קדשו פרי הארץ. עץ פרי. [1], יד, [1], [טו]-נח דף.
חלק ב: ספר אגרת הקודש, ח"ש [חלק שני] מספר לקוטי אמרים, בו משיב ... מרן... מנחם מענדל מוויטעפסק... עם... מרן אברהם בהרב מו' אלכסנדר כ"ץ... אב"ד דק' קאליסקא, מאה"ק טבריא... במכתביהם ... ונספחו גם צוואת הרמ"מ... והנהגות ק' מהרב מקאליסקא והרה"ק (מרדכי) מלעכוויץ ור"ח [ור' חיים] חייקיל [מאמדור].... כולל מה מכתבים. שמונה-עשר של ר' מנחם מענדיל, ביניהם רבים שר' אברהם מקאליסק הוסיף על דבריו; ששה-עשר של ר' אברהם מקאליסק; ארבעה של ר' שלמה זלמן ב"ר צבי הירש הכהן ואחד אחד מאת ר' אהרן ארי' ליב ב"ר משה, ר' שניאור זלמן ב"ר ברוך מלאדי, ר' ישראל ב"ר פרץ, ר' ליב הנליש, ר' גרשון ראמושעונער, ר' מאיר ב"ר יעקב ואחד סתמי. לפני מכתבים אלה נדפסה איגרת ר' ברוך ב"ר יחיאל ממעזבוז אל ר' מנחם מענדיל.
המכתבים נדפסו לפני כן במקומות שונים, חלקם בספרי המחבר.

הסכמות (בחלק א): [ר' יצחק ב"ר אברהם יעקב פרידמאן], באיאן, כ שבט תר"ע (חתום: ישראל מרגליות); [ר' ישראל ב"ר דוד משה פרידמאן], טשרטקוב (חתום: צבי לקוטי אמרים. תרע"א הירש ראפאפארט); [ר' ישראל ב"ר מרדכי שרגא פרידמאן] הוסיאטין (חתום: דוד שוואגיר); [ר' ישראל ב"ר ברוך האגער], וויזניצא (חתום: אפרים מאהלער); ר' חיים [ב"ר ברוך האגער], אטטיניא, ד שלח תרס"ז (חתום: שמעון זעלצער); [ר' יצחק מאיר ב"ר אברהם יהושע העשל], קאפיטשיניץ (חתום: ישראל מרדכי טייטעלבוים); [ר' אהרן ב"ר ישראל פרידמאן], סאדיגערא (חתום: מרדכי דוד ראחמאן); [ר' אברהם יעקב ב"ר ישראל פרידמאן], סאדיגערא, כט שבט תר"ע (חתום: אברהם וויינשטאק); [ר' שלמה מאיר ב"ר חנוך מאלעסק], סאסוב, ג שופטים תרע"א (חתום חתנו: אברהם מרדכי שלום
טויב); ר' מנחם מענדיל [אייכנשטיין], אלעסק; ר' יהודא צבי [ב"ר יששכר בר אייכנשטיין], דאלינע, א דראש חודש אייר תרס"ז; ר' שלום מרדכי הכהן [שוואדראן], ברעזאן, ו וישלח תרס"ט; ר' יהושיע האלברשטאם, ו לסדר טהרות [תזריע] תרס"ז; ר' ארי' ליבש הלוי איש הורוויץ, סטאניסלאב, ב של ראש-חודש תמוז תרס"ז; ר' משה ב"ר עמרם [גרינוואלד], חוסט; ר' צבי הירש שפירא, מונקאטש, יד אייר תר"ע; ר' דוד הלוי איש הורוויץ, סטאניסלאב, יד אייר תרע"א.

 

Bibliography:

BE lamed 563; EJ;  CD-NLI 0200081