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Otiyot Porhot, R. Menahem Zemba, New York 1954

אותיות פורחות - Only Edition

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Details
  • Lot Number 47364
  • Title (English) Otiyot Porhot
  • Title (Hebrew) אותיות פורחות
  • Note Only Edition
  • Author R. Menahem Zemba
  • City New York
  • Publisher (דפוס ספראגראף קאמפאני)
  • Publication Date 1954
  • Estimated Price - Low 200
  • Estimated Price - High 500

  • Item # 1365021
  • End Date
  • Start Date
Description

Physical Description

Only edition. [4], 133, [9] pp., quarto, 268:175mm., age and damp staining. A good copy bound in contemporary boards, rubbed.

 

Detail Description

Novellae by R. Menahem Zemba (1883–1943) was a Polish rabbinical scholar. He came from a poor ḥasidic family. While still a young man, he distinguished himself by his erudition in his approach to the study of the mishnayot and a freedom from pilpul for its own sake, which was prevalent in his time in Poland. He studied for 20 years, during which time he was supported by his wealthy father-in-law. On the death of his father-in-law (about 1917) Zemba was forced to take over the running of his business, but he was not successful and after years of hardship he agreed in 1935 to become a member of the Warsaw rabbinical council. Until then he had been active in the Agudat Israel movement, was secretary of the Mo'eẓet Gedolei ha-Torah, and a member of the council of the Warsaw Jewish community. R. Zemba was one of the last Warsaw rabbis to remain in the ghetto after the first wave of extermination. At a meeting of its surviving leaders on January 14, 1943, he gave rabbinic approval for the uprising. In an inspiring address, he stated: "Of necessity, we must resist the enemy on all fronts.… We shall no longer heed his instructions…. Sanctification of the Divine Name manifests itself in varied ways. During the First Crusade, at the end of the 11th century, the Halakhah … determined one way of reacting to the distress of the Franco-German Jews, whereas in the middle of the 20th century, during the liquidation of the Jews in Poland, it prompts us to react in an entirely different manner. In the past, during religious persecution, we were required by the law 'to give up our lives even for the least essential practice.' In the present, however, when we are faced by an arch foe, whose unparalleled ruthlessness and program of total annihilation know no bounds, the Halakhah demands that we fight and resist to the very end with unequaled determination and valor for the sake of Sanctification of the Divine Name." On the eve of the revolt, Catholic circles offered their assistance to save the three remaining rabbis of Warsaw, but R. Zemba gave a ruling against it and died a martyr's death in the ghetto. R. Zemba's works acquired great renown among students since they were an unusual amalgam of the dialectical approach common in Poland and the logical and penetrating method of the Lithuanian yeshivot. Toẓe'ot Ḥayyim (1921) on the Law of carrying on the Sabbath; Oẓar ha-Sifri (1929), Oẓar ha-Sifra (1960), and a number of articles which appear in various collections. The manuscripts of many other important works were lost in the Holocaust. Among these were Menaḥem Yerushalayim, on the Jerusalem Talmud; Maḥazeh la-Melekh, on Maimonides; four volumes of responsa; and a volume of sermons and dialectics which he had prepared for press. R. Zemba's remains were reintered in Jerusalem in 1958.

 

Hebrew Description

 מלוקט מאוצרותיו של ... רבינו מנחם זעמבא ז"ל, רב בווארשא, על ספרא וספרי ועוד חדושים ... ונלוה בסופו דרושים לבר מצוה [מאת בנו ר’ משה יהודה אריה ליב זעמבא]. יצא לאור ע"י ש"ב [שארי בשרו] של ... המחבר ... האחים יצחק מאיר זעמבא, רב בשיקאגא ... ואברהם זעמבא מניו יארק ...

מ’ 3-4: קטע מהספד על ... המחבר ... מאת הרב ... מנחם כשר. ההספד כולו נתפרסם ב"תלפיות", כרך א, תש"ד, עמ’ 453-455

עמ’ [1-2]: חידושי תורה. מתוך ספר ילקוט נחמני, לר’ נחום בריינער , חלק א, כרך א, ווארשא תרצ"ז

מ’ 9-70: קונטרס אוצר הספרי; כולל הערות ובאורים ... בספרי זוטא. דפוס-צילום מתוך ספרי זוטא לבמדבר, חלק א, לודז תרפ"ט

עמ’ 71-121: אוצר הספרא; הערות ... בדברים מחודשים של ס’ תורת כהנים ומפרשיו הראב"ד [ר’ אברהם ב"ר דוד מפושקיירא] והר"ש [ר’ שמשון משאנץ]. דפוס-צילום מתוך "דגל התורה", שנה א, תר"ף, חוברת א; שנה ב, תרפ"ב, חוברת ט-י; שנה ג, תרפ"ג, חוברת א-ב. ‬

הערותיו של ר’ אלחנן בונם ווסרמן ל"אוצר הספרא" ותשובת המחבר עליהן נתפרסמו בקונטרס דברי סופרים, פיעטרקוב תרפ"ד. עי’: וואסרמאן, אלחנן בונם בן נפתלי בינוש. ‬

עמ’ 121-133: חידושי תורה במסכת סוכה דף ל. דפוס-צילום מתוך ספר חדות שמחה, ספר בראשית, לר’ שמחה בונם מפרשיסחא, ווארשא [תר"ץ], עמ’ 101-113

עמ’ [3-8]: דרושים לבר מצוה. דפוס-צילום מתוך ספר גור ארי’ יהודה, לר’ משה יהודא ארי’ ליב זעמבא,  ווארשא  תרפ"ח

 

References

EJ; CD-NLI 0132593; S. Rothstein, Rabbi Menaḥem Zemba (1948); O. Feuchtwanger, Righteous Lives (1965), 23–27; Elleh Ezkerah, 2 (1957), 38–51; A. Shurin, Keshet Gibborim (1969), 98–100; H. Seidman, Diary of the Warsaw Ghetto (1957), 281–5; I. Elfenbein, in: L. Jung (ed.), Guardians of Our Heritage (1958), 605–16; A. Rothkoff, in: Jewish Life (Nov.–Dec. 1969), 41–46.