Discourses on Sefer Bereshit by R. David Dov ben Mordecai Zev Meisels (1875-1944). There is a brief introduction from the author, errata, and then the text. The descriptions of Binyan David in both bibliographic works and encyclopedias are in error, describing it as a commentary on Lamentations, whereas the text is entirely on Sefer Bereshit. R. David Dov ben Mordecai Zev Meisels was named after his grandfather (1814–1876) was a Polish rabbi and statesman; son of R. Aryeh Judah Jacob who served as av bet din of Piotrkow and Kilatow.  R. Meisels was born in Szezekoeiny and died in Warsaw on March 17, 1870. He was brought up in Kamenetz, Podolia, where his father (d. 1832) was rabbi and was known in his youth as a prodigy (illui).  After marrying the daughter of the wealthy Solomon Bornstein of Wielicka, he settled as a banker in Cracow, of which city he became rabbi in 1832. He occupied the rabbinate for nearly a quarter of a century, but was not recognized by the entire community, a considerable part of which adhered to his opponent, R. Saul Landau. R. Meisels always took a conspicuous part in the civic life of his place of residence; and in the stormy times of 1846 he was chosen one of the twelve senators of Cracow. In 1848 he was elected, with the aid of Catholic votes, to represent the city in the provisional Austrian Reichsrath, meeting at Kremsier. He took his seat among the radicals, and when the president expressed his surprise at seeing a rabbi seated on the "left," R. Meisels gave the reply: "Juden haben keine Rechte" (Jews have no right!).

In 1856 R. Meisels became rabbi of Warsaw, where he soon gained the respect and confidence of the entire population. In 1861, during the riots and excesses which preceded the outbreak of the second Polish insurrection, he did everything in his power to induce the Jews to sympathize with the cause of Poland. He accompanied the Archbishop of Warsaw to the funeral of the victims of the first outbreak and marched together with Father Wyszynski at the head of a delegation to the city hall. Later he was appointed by the Russian vice-regent a member of the provisional municipal council of Warsaw; but he remained loyal to the cause of the Polish patriots, thereby, it is believed, preventing massacres of Jews which some Polish leaders had planned and which the Russian government was not anxious to avert ("Allg. Zeit. des Jud." 1861, p. 227). Late in 1861 R. Meisels, together with Dr. M. Jastrow, was arrested and thrown into prison; after several months’ confinement both were expelled from the country. R. Meisels was invited to settle in London; but in 1862 he was permitted to return to Warsaw, where he remained until his death. He was regarded as one of the outstanding talmudists of his generation and gained the deep respect of the ḥasidic rabbi of Gur, R. Isaac Meir, author of the Ḥiddushei ha-Rim. R. Meisels' important works, published by his sons, are Ahavat David, on the laws of invalid witnesses (1884); Ḥiddushei ha-Radad, novellae on tractate Pesaḥim (1891); She'elot u-Teshuvot ha-Radad, responsa on Oraḥ Ḥayyim and Even ha-Ezer (1903); and “Binyan David, on the Book of Lamentations (sic),” improperly described, as noted above, or perhaps a totally different work, unlikely, with the same name. Of his sons, R. Jacob, author of the Toledot Ya'akov, succeeded his father as rabbi of Lask; R. Phinehas Elijah served as rabbi of Rakov and R. Ze’ev Wolf was a distinguished Ḥasid at Tarnow.

The Author, R. David Dov ben Mordecai Zev Meisels, perished in the Holocaust.

Hebrew Description

על התורה, אשר חברתי... דוד דוב בעריש מייזליש אב"ד בק"ק אוהעל... בלאאמו"ר ... מ' מרדכי זאב בהגאון... הרד"ד [ר' דוד דוב] >חתן... בעהמ"ח חידושי מהרא"ך [ר' אלעזר הכהן] חתן מרן החוו"ד [החוות דעת, ר' יעקב לארבערבוים] ...< בהגה"ק מהר"י [ר' אריה יהודה יעקב] אבדק"ק פיעטרקוב בהגאון... מ' מנחם אבדק"ק ראווא בהגאון ... מ' חנניא ליפא אבדק"ק פיעטרקוב חתן... מ' פנחס אבדק"ק לבוב חתן הגאון מ' מאניש חתן רבינו הש"ך [ר' שבתי כהן]... חלק ראשון, ספר בראשית...

כנראה לא נדפס יותר.

BE bet 1210; Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000147697; EJ; JE