Physical Description:

Only edition. [6], 60, [1]; 10, 71-163 ff., 375:230 mm., wide margins, usual light age staining. A very good copy bound in contemporary cloth over boards, rubbed.

Detailed Description:   

Only edition of the responsa on all four parts of the Shulhan Arukh by R. Jacob ben Aaron of Karlin. The volume is divided into two parts. Part one, on Orah Hayyim, begins with an introduction from the author. The title is from, “The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob mishkenot ya’akov” (Psalms 87:2). In the introduction R. Jacob writes that he entitled the work Mishkenot Ya’akov, for this si the principle dwelling for a person all the days of his life. “What gains a man from all his labor” (Ecclesiastes 1:3) except for that which the Lord graces a person with knowledge, ability, but the labor of Torah is above all. There is a detailed index of the 166 responsa in this part. Part two is on responsa the other three parts of the Shulhan Arukh. Many of the respona were written with R. Ephraim Zalman Margulies of Brod.

R. Jacob ben Aaron of Karlin (Baruchin; d. 1844) was a Lithuanian rabbi and author. He was a grandson of R. Baruch ben Jacob of Shklov, and a pupil of R. Hayyim of Volozhin. R. Jacob was first rabbi of Gorodok and later of Karlin, where he served for 30 years, until his death. In addition to Mishkenot Ya’akov he wrote Kehillat Ya’akov (1847), novellae on a number of tractates of the orders Zera'im and Mo'ed. His halakhic works were highly esteemed by yeshivah students, by whom they were much used. R. Jacob's brother R. Isaac, after devoting himself to business, succeeded him in the rabbinate of Karlin. He too, also achieved an outstanding rabbinical reputation, and was the author of Keren Orah (2 parts, 1852–57), on a number of tractates of the Talmud. Both brothers were noted for their struggle against the kidnapping of children for impressment into the Russian army.

Hebrew Description:

שו"ת מארבע חלקי שו"ע ... מאת ... הגאון ... מו' יעקב נ"י אב"ד ור"מ דקארלין ...

BE mem 3875; Chones, Toledot ha-Posekim (1910), 563f.; EJ; Fuenn, Keneset, 574; Vin Vilna 418; Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000114197