Physical Description

Five parts in three volumes,, quarto, 260:202 mm., wide margins, usual light age and damp staining, old hands. A very good copy bound in contemporary full leather over boards, rubbed, volume three split.

Important approbations including by R. Chaim b. Arye Loeb Halberstam (1793–1876), founder of the Sanz hasidic dynasty. He was born in Tarnogrod. As a youth Hayyim was brought to R. Jacob Isaac the hozeh ("seer") of Lublin who strongly influenced him and he became a Hasid; he studied under R. Naphtali of Ropczyce and R. Zevi Hirsch of Zhidachov. R. Hayyim also studied with R. Zevi Hirsch of Rymanow, R. Shalom Rokeah of Belz, and R. Israel of Ruzhin. In 1830 he was appointed rabbi of Nowy Sacz (Zanz). R. Chaim administered his yeshivah in the best scholarly tradition of the old-style yeshivot in Poland. He would not permit his pupils to cultivate Hasidism until a late stage. Thus both Hasidim and mitnaggedim were attracted to his yeshivah. Known as strict in matters of learning and observance, he conducted his "court" modestly and discreetly and avoided the splendor and luxury customary at the "courts" of other zaddikim in that period. R. Hayyim wrote: Divrei Hayyim (Zolkiew, 1864), on ritual purity and divorce laws; responsa Divrei Hayyim (Lemberg, 1875), and Divrei Hayyim (Munkacz, 1877), hasidic sermons on Torah and the festivals. His works reveal a profound knowledge of the Talmud and commentaries, the midrashim, and medieval philosophical literature. He quotes widely from R. Judah Halevi's Kuzari, Maimonides, Nahmanides, and R. Abraham ibn Daud. From later literature, he cites R. Isaiah Horowitz, R. Judah Loew of Prague, the prayer book of R. Jacob Emden, and his teachers in Kabbalah and Hasidism. An opponent of asceticism, R. Chaim was an exponent of the ecstatic mode of prayer and developed the hasidic melody. In his writings he emphasized the duty of charity and criticized zaddikim who lived luxuriously.

Manuscript inscriptions on verso of title page in volumes two and three.

The v. 3 manuscript. dated 24 Tevet 5654 (Jan. 4, 1894), describes the passing, a day earlier, and burial of the Belz Rebbe which took place on different days!!!

His Rebbitzen passed on 27 Adat 5691.

Detail Description

The Zohar, is arranged according to the weekly portions of the Torah, up to and including the portion Pinhas. From Deuteronomy there are only Va-Ethannan, a little on Va-Yelekh, and Ha'azinu. Basically it is a kabbalistic Midrash on the Torah, mixed with short statements, long expositions, and narratives concerning Rebbe Simeon b. Yohai and his companions. Some of it consists also of common legends. The number of verses interpreted in each portion is relatively small. Often the exposition digresses to other subjects quite divorced from the actual text of the portion, and the interpretations are skillfully constructed. The expositions are preceded by petihot ("introductions") which are usually based on verses from the Prophets and the Hagiographa, especially Psalms, and which end with a transition to the subject matter of the portion. Many stories act as a framework for the homilies of the companions, e.g., conversations while they are on a journey or when they rest for the night. The language is Aramaic, as it is for most of the other sections of the work. Before the portion Bereshit there is a hakdamah ("preface"), which would appear to be a typical collection of writings and not a preface as such, unless perhaps it was intended to introduce the reader to the spiritual climate of the book.

R. Moses Shapira, son of the zaddik R. Phinehas b. Abraham of Korets, founded the Slavuta printing press, in 1791. Later his two sons, Samuel Abraham and Phinehas, took over the administration of the press. Three editions of the Babylonian Talmud, an edition of the Bible (with commentaries), the Zohar, and many other religious works, especially chasidic literature, were all produced handsomely and with great care by the press. In 1836 the press was closed down when the owners were arrested for the alleged murder of a worker who had supposedly denounced them for printing books without permission from the censor. Slavuta imprints are rare as they were consistently and continuously used by hasidim, causing extreme wear and the destruction of many copies.

Hebrew Description

... (מאשר נדפס ... במנטובה) ... והגהות ... בדרך אמת. ואמרי בינה ... והוגה ... מכמה ספרי זוהר מדפוסים שונים. והוספנו ... פירוש מקדש מלך. ונכלל בו פירוש מוהרמ"ז ... כאשר נדפס באמשטרדם [חלק א-ד, תק"י] ע"י המחבר ... מוה’ שלום בוזאגלי ... חלק א-ג.

המסדר, ששמו לא נזכר, הדפיס חידושים במס’ עבודה זרה ובבא קמא בדף רצה-רצו (הראשונים) ובדף [18, ב] בסוף ובעמ’ האחרון.

בהקדמת המדפיס בראש חלק א נאמר, שהפנים, ההגהות והפירושים בשם "דרך אמת" הדפיס "מהזוהר הנדפס בק"ק פריצק [תקע"ה] כי המדפיס הנ"ל יגע ומצא בזה הרבה יותר מכל אשר לפניו ... איזה נוסחא או איזה פירוש המלות אשר לא נדפס בזוהר פריצק" ושנמצאו בספרים אחרים "המה חרותים על הלוח שיהי’ נדפס בסוף הכרך", אבל לוח זה לא נדפס משום מה.

"מקדש מלך" נדפס בשלימותו. חלק בשולי העמ’ וחלק בדפים מיוחדים שנספחו בלא מספרים.

לק א: ספר בראשית. בשנת והמשכילים יזהירו כ’ה’ז’ה’ר’ ה’ר’ק’י’ע’ [תרכ"ב]. [4], יד, [18], טו-נח, [17], נט-צו, [2], צז-רנא, [26] דף.

חלק ב: ספר שמות. בשנת והמשכילים יזהיר’ו כ’זוה’ר’ הר’קיע [תרכ"ה], 1864. מג, [1], מד-רך, [5], רכא-רסט, [6] דף.

חלק ב: בעמ’ אחרון: "הגהות דבש לפי להרב ... חיד"א", מדפוס ליוורנו תקע"ה-תקע"ו.

חלק ג: ספר ויקרא, במדבר, דברים. בשנת והמשכילים יזהירו כ’ה’ז’ה’ר’ ה’ר’ק’י’ע’ [תרכ"ב]. קטו, [26], רעז-רצו, קיז-קעט, רא-ריא, [3], קפ-רכז, ח, רכח-רנט, [13], רס- רצט, [18], ש-שא, שד-שה, [2] דף.

עם הסכמת:

ר' חיים בן אריה ליבוש האלברשטם אב"ד צאנז בעמ"ס דברי חיים

ר' יוסף שאול בן אריה ליבוש הלוי נאטאנזאן, בעמ"ס שו"ת שואל ומשיב

ר' מרדכי זאב בן יצחק אהרן הלוי איטינגא מלבוב. בעמ"ס מגן גיבורים, מאירת עיניים, מאמר מרדכי ועוד

References

EJ; JE; Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000129416; EJ; M. Buber, Tales of the Hasidim, 2 (1963), pp. 208–15; H. Rabinowicz, The World of Hasidim (1970), p. 227