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Da’at Kedoshim, R. Israel Tovia Eisenstadt, Petersburg 1897-98

דעת קדושים - Only Edition

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Details
  • Lot Number 51108
  • Title (English) Da’at Kedoshim
  • Title (Hebrew) דעת קדושים
  • Note Only Edition
  • Author R. Israel Tovia Eisenstadt
  • City Petersburg
  • Publisher דפוס בערמאנן ושותפו
  • Publication Date 1897-98
  • Estimated Price - Low 200
  • Estimated Price - High 500

  • Item # 1821676
  • End Date
  • Start Date
Description

Physical Description

Only edition, quarto, [6], 245, [1]; 80; 86 [1] pp. 215:145 mm., wide margins, age staining. A good copy bound in later boards, rubbed.

 

Detailed Description  

Only edition of this rare moving memorial book by R. Israel Tovia Eisenstadt honoring and commemorating the victims, individuals and families, murdered in Ruzhany, Lithuania (Belarus) because of a blood libel.  The title-page describes  Da’at Kedoshim, which is dedicated to the martyrs of Ruzhany as the memoirs of the following family histories: Eisenstadt, Bachrach, Ginzburg, Heilprin, Morawicz, Mintz, Friedland, Katzenelenboigen, Rappaport, and Rokach. They are related through their parents or their wives to the martyrs who gave their lives in the blood libel that took place in Ruzhany in the Horodno Province in the State of Lithuania in 1659. R. Eisenstadt was a descendant of one of the martyrs. Da’at Kedoshim is based on documents from the Friedland collection of the Imperial library in St. Petersburg (Bibliotheca Friedlandiana) as well as tombstone, correspondence, and other legal documents. Included is a selicha for the martyrs of Ruzhany. An entry (p. 11) states

 “These days were during the reign of Jan Kazimierz II, who at first was a cardinal of the Pope in Rome, and then ruled over Poland and Lithuania in the year 5408, which is 1648 in the secular calendar. The tribulations of Ta'ch took place during his day, and the Cossacks swept through Lithuania during the years 5414 and 5415. The Jesuits spread through the land, and spent half of their zeal against the Jews, inciting the simple folk against them with their libels. Kazimierz, who wished to follow in the ways of the kings who preceded him who were protectors of the Jews, as well as the noblemen, did not exert his rule or expend any energy, for he was an enemy of Karl the king of Sweden, and all of his days were spent in anguish and pain, and he knew no rest. The Jesuits, plotters of evil and short of toil, whose hearts were set on evil toward the Jews, won over the hearts of the nation with a blood libel that they incited. They did not permit the Jews to come to the king. Therefore, throughout the three years that the residents of the city of Ruzhany wished to bring the case to judgment before the king who was their protector and fortress, they were unable to obtain assistance in that manner. The Jesuits arranged matters so that there would be cruel judges from the poor of the people, whom they would be able to flatter in order to promote religious zealotry and Jew hatred, and pervert the case at their will.

At the end of the year 5419, the time came to put an end to the case in the distraught city that was fluttering between life and death. Then, the farmers of Ruzhany and its environs gathered together to sit on the seat of justice. The masses streamed to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which is the valley of judgment to deal with the case of the libel, which up to this point had been kept in the Chamber of Secrets. The judges declared, “Let the murderers who murdered the child die, if we know who they are. However, since, after the inquiry and investigation, we do not know who they are, let Judah be guilty! For he was suspected first.” Then, the head judge declared that two heads of the Jewish community in Ruzhany should be killed to bear the sin of the community. (There is a family in Ruzhany whose members are snatched by death before they reach the age of thirty. Legend has it that they are descendents of the judges of those days, therefore they do not live out even half of their lifespan. Let those who believe, believe.) Thus did these judges turn off the proper path. In this judgment, the haughty ones placed a trap at the foot of the two good people: Yisrael and Tovia. They were caught in the trap, for they were important men and leaders of the community, as they were in their eyes as well.

These martyrs went out, as if walking with the accompaniment of a flute, to meet their fate, and they accepted the judgment of Heaven with joy. They accepted to give up their lives as a ransom for the nation, to save them from the perplexity of death and destruction. “Oh! How good is our lot! Our inheritance is beautiful for us”, they said to each other, “for our souls are being given up to save a large group of people.” With hearts full of will and holy desire, they prepared themselves in holiness and purity to be taken out to be murdered, so that they could save their flock, giving their lives for the price of all the residents of the city. They lifted up their hands to Heaven to the G-d who avenges the blood of the oppressed, so that their blood would be accepted as a pure offering to protect the distraught city, so that false accusations and libels will no longer come to its gates, and so that the workers of iniquity will never torture it again.

 

Hebrew Description

כולל זכרונות לתולדות המשפחות אייזינשטאט, בכרך, גינצבורג, היילפרין, מורוויץ, מינץ, פרידלאנד, קצינעלבויגן, ראפפורט ורוקח, המתיחשות ... לקדושים שמסרו נפשם בגזרת עלילת דם שהיתה בראזינאי, פלך הוראדנא ... עם סליחות על הקדושים, שנהרגו ביום ב דר"ה ת"ך 1659. נאספו ... בהוצאות הר’ משה אריה ליב פרידלאנד מכתבי יד וספרים נדפסים הנרשמים בקהלת משה Bibliotheca Friedlandiana, ונכתבו בספר על ידי הר’ ישראל טוביה אייזינשטאט ז"ל מראזינאי. יוצא לאור ... עם הערות ונוספות רבות. ועוד נלוה אליו פסק החרם של הר’ יעקב פולק נגד הר’ אבי"ה מינץ בשנת ר"פ לערך, עם שני פסקים לבטל החרם. נעתק מקובץ שו"ת ופסקים כת"י הנמצא במוזעאום האזיאטי. עם מזכרת רבני איטליאה הבאים בקובץ הנזכר, משנת רע"ח-תקע"ח ... בסדר א"ב, מאת המ"ל שמואל ב"ר ירמיהו ז"ל ווינער ...

שערים נוספים בגרמנית וברוסית:

80 עמ’: "יתרון דעת". כולל שלוש צוואות: של ר’ משה יצחק ב"ר יחזקאל הלוי אב"ד זלאטאווי וקראטאשין, של ר’ יעקב ב"ר ברוך בענדט מאבערזיצקא ושל לאה בת ר’ זנוויל פרידלאנד; כתב הרבנות שנשלח מקראקא לר’ משה מגזע צבי אב"ד הוראדנא בשנת ת"ם; סליחה שחיבר ר’ שמשון בכרך. פותחת: אזכרה מקדם פעלך אשר הראיתני. אוצר השירה והפיוט, א, עמ’ 108, מס’ 2293.

עמ’ 41-52, עם שער מיוחד: בית מושב זקנים בעיה"ק ירושלם ... אשר הוקם על מנדבת ... משה ארי’ ליב פרידלאנד ... יכלכל קורות הבית ... והתקנות הקבועות, מאת אליהו האניג. בראש השער: "בשנת תרנ"א נדפסה בירושלם הוצאה מיוחדת מספר ’הארץ’ ח"א והיא כעת פה לפני הקוראים".

הועתק כאן גם השער הגרמני:

Das Alterversorgungshaus Moschab Sekenim in Jerusalem ... von Elias Honig.

עמ’ 53-56: "בית מחסה ליתומים עברים בס"ט פטרבורג". עמ’ 61-80: שני הספדים מאת ר’ מרדכי ב"ר אריה ליב פרידבורג, על ר’ משולם פייבול פרידלאנד ועל אביו ר’ אריה ליב.

86, [1] עמ’, עם שער מיוחד: פסק החרם של הרב יעקב פולק נגד ... הרב אבי"ה מינץ [הוא ר’ אברהם ב"ר יהודה מינץ אב"ד פאדובה] על עמדו לימין המוחרם עמנואל נורצי מפיררא בשנת ר"פ [1520]. עם שני פסקים לבטל הפסק הנזכר, א. מהר’ יודא ליווא מפיררא, ב. מהר’ עזריאל דיינא מסביוניטה ... ונלוה אליו בסופו מזכרת רבני איטליאה ... [עם זכרונות לתולדות ר’ יעקב פולק וישיבתו בפראג קראקא ולובלין] ערוך ... מאת המעתיק שמואל ווינער ... שנת תרנ"ז ...

"פסק החרם" יצא לאור גם לחוד.

 

References

BE daled 938; https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/ruzhany/ruz010.html; Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000109368