Year round prayerbook, following the rite of Ashkenaz, with extensive commentary by R. Jacob b. Jacob Moses Lorberbaum of Lissa (c. 1760–1832), Polish rabbi and halakhist. His father, the rabbi of Zborow, died before Lorberbaum was born and his relative, R. Joseph Te'omim, brought him up. After his marriage he settled in Stanislav and engaged in business, but devoted most of his time to study. He frequently attended the lectures of R. Meshullam Igra. When after a few years his business failed, he accepted the rabbinate of Monasterzyska where he founded a yeshivah. He was later appointed rabbi of Kalisz where he wrote most of his books and with exceptional humility published anonymously his work on parts of Shulhan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah: Havvat Da'at, a name by which he himself became known in scholarly circles when his authorship came to light. This work was accepted in the rabbinic world as a compendium of practical halakhah, and won him the reputation of an outstanding posek. In 1809 he was invited to become rabbi of Lissa, long a center of Torah in Poland. R. Lorbeerbaum enlarged the yeshivah, to which hundreds of students streamed, among them many who later became great scholars and pioneers of the Hibbat Zion movement such as R. Elijah Gutmacher, R. Zevi Hirsch Kalischer, and R. Shraga Feivel Danziger. Many of R. Jacob's contemporaries turned to him with their problems. During his time the war between the reformers and the rabbis flared up, and R. Lorbeerbaum, together with R. Akiva Eger and R. Moses Sofer, unleashed a vehement attack against the maskilim and the reformers. In Lissa, however, as in other towns of Great Poland that came under Prussian rule after the partition of Poland, the influence of the Berlin reformers grew continually stronger. The schism between R. Lorbeerbaum and a large section of the community eventually became so great that in 1822 he decided to leave Lissa and return to Kalisz. There he devoted his time to study, rejecting all offers of rabbinic posts from large and ancient communities such as Lublin. In 1830 he quarreled with a powerful member of the community who denounced him to the government, compelling him to leave Kalisz. On the way to Budapest, where he had been invited to become av bet din, he passed through the regional town of Stryj and was persuaded to remain there.

The following of his works have been published: Havvat Da'at (Lemberg, 1799); Ma'aseh Nissim (Zolkiew, 1801), on the Passover Haggadah; Mekor Hayyim (ibid., 1807), novellae and expositions of the laws of Passover in the Shulhan Arukh together with the glosses of R. David b. Samuel ha-Levi and R. Abraham Abele Gombiner on the Orah Hayyim and novellae to tractate Keritot; Netivot ha-Mishpat (ibid., 1809–16), on Hoshen Mishpat; Torat Gittin (Frankfort on the Oder, 1813), the laws of divorce and novellae on tractate Gittin; Beit Ya'akov (Hrubieszow, 1823), expositions on Even ha-Ezer; Kehillat Ya'akov (1831), on Even ha-Ezer and some sections of Orah Hayyim; Derekh ha-Hayyim, an anthology of liturgical laws for the whole year, first published with the prayer book (1828) and then separately (1860 or 1870); Nahalat Ya'akov (1849), expositions of the Pentateuch; Emet le-Ya'akov (1865), expositions of talmudic aggadot; Imrei Yosher, commentaries on the five megillot, each published at a different place and time; his ethical will (1875) and Millei de-Aggadeta (1904), sermons and response.

R. Naphtali ha-Kohen (Katz)

R. Naphtali b. Isaac ha-Kohen (Katz) (1645–1719), rabbi and kabbalist. R. Naphtali was born in Stepan (Volhynia), where his father was rabbi. In his youth he was taken captive by the Tatars but managed to escape. He succeeded his father as av bet din of Stepan and then served as rabbi of Ostrow (1680–89), Posen (1690–1704), and Frankfort on the Main (1704–11). In the latter year a fire broke out in his house, destroying the whole Jewish quarter of Frankfort. After he had been maliciously charged with preventing the extinguishing of the fire because he wanted to test his amulets - in the use of which he was expert - he was imprisoned and compelled to resign his post. He went to Prague, staying in the house of David Oppenheim, where he met Nehemiah Hayon and even gave approbation to his book Oz le-Elohim (also called Meheimnuta de-Kalla; Berlin, 1713). From 1713 to 1715 he lived in Breslau, where together with R. Zevi Hirsch Ashkenazi he excommunicated Hayon after realizing his true character. In 1715, after King Augustus of Poland had rejected his application to be restored to his post as rabbi of Posen, he returned to Ostrow where his son Bezalel was rabbi. While journeying to Erez Israel he was taken ill in Constantinople and passed on there.

Among his works are Pi Yesharim (Frankfort, 1702), kabbalistic comments to the word bereshit ("in the beginning"); and Sha'ar Naftali, poems and piyyutim (Bruenn, 1757). Several works are still in manuscript. R. Naphtali was one of the important halakhic authorities of his generation and one of the greatest kabbalists of Poland. His image persisted in the memory of the people, and many legends and wondrous tales about him circulated for many generations. He conducted his rabbinate high-handedly and as a result met much opposition from the leaders of the communities, which was apparently the cause of his frequent wanderings. Despite this he had a sensitive soul which found expression in his poems, piyyutim, and prayers which have been published in various places. His well-known ethical will (Berlin 1729) contains profound thoughts and moral instruction and some see in it one of the first sparks of practical Hasidism.

Hebrew Description

אשכנז) עם ... דרך החיים לרבינו ... יעקב ז"ל ... נהורא השלם להרב ... אהרן ב"ר י"מ [יחיאל מיכל] ז"ל, תקוני שבת להרה"ג ... משה ז"ל מזאלשין, והרבה הגהות וחדושי דינים בתוך דרך החיים. עם שני פרושים ... בשם כונות פשטיות ... כונות ישרות ... על כל התפלות והגדה. עם בית רחל להגאון ... נפתלי כ"ץ ז"ל, לקוטי צבי להר"ר צבי הירש ב"ר חיים ... עם עוד תשעה ועשרים ... מעלות ... ועל כל אלה נלוה ספר תהלים עם ביאור המלות, וסדר מעמדות ...

שני שערים. השער השני מפורט. שם החיבור בדיו אדומה.
אלו הם "תשעה ועשרים מעלות": פירוש על פרקי אבות, "מעשה נסים" על הלל מאת ר' יעקב לורברבוים, פירוש על שיר הכבוד, מערבית עם פירוש ר' וולף היידנהיים, פירוש על אתקינו סעודתא מאת ר' יעקב ב"ר רפאל הלוי, לקוטים מספר חסידים לר' יהודה החסיד, פירוש
על הגדה לפסח, "בחינה" קודם התפילה לר' אברהם אבן עזרא, "תוכחה" מאת רבינו בחיי, תפלה קודם התפלה מר' אלימלך מליזנסק, דיני קדיש מאת ר' יחזקאל קצנלבוגן, לוח המולדות, תפילה לעצירת גשמים, וידוי מאת ר' חיים יוסף דוד אזולאי, ומאת בעל חובת
הלבבות, זוהר לומר קודם תקיעת שופר, סדר תשליך לחיד"א, אגרת התשובה ויסוד התשובה לר' יונה גירונדי, אורחות חיים מאת ר' אשר ב"ר יחיאל, דינים והנהגות מהרב מבוטשאטש (ר' אברהם דוד ווארמאן), סליחות לשובבי"ם ת"ת, "תמניא אפי" (תהלים פרק קיט),
תפלה אחר נעילה, תפלה לומר ביום שמיני עצרת כשפונה מסוכתו לביתו מבעל "יסוד יוסף", הקפות לשמחת תורה מאת החיד"א, מזמורי תהלים למועדים מהגר"א, לחש נגד עין הרע, מסכתות ראש השנה, יומא, סוכה, ופסחים, תהלים עם "ביאור המלות", מעמדות.
דף קעח,ב: "לוח המולדות וראשי חדשים" לשנים תרע"ב-תרע"ה.
דף קעט,א: "סדר הקביעות משנת תרכ"ה עד תרצ"ד".

Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000320676; EJ