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Mei Niddah, R. Solomon ben Judah Kluger, Zholkva 1834

מי נדה - Only Edition - Copy of R. Hayyim Berlin

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Details
  • Lot Number 52477
  • Title (English) Mei Niddah
  • Title (Hebrew) מי נדה
  • Note Only Edition - Copy of R. Hayyim Berlin
  • Author R. Solomon ben Judah Kluger
  • City Zholkva
  • Publisher דפוס שאול דוב מאיר האפער
  • Publication Date 1834
  • Estimated Price - Low 300
  • Estimated Price - High 600

  • Item # 2189791
  • End Date
  • Start Date
Description

Physical Description

First edition. [7], 170 [i.e.177], 64 [i.e. 69] ff., folio, 364:225 mm., light age and damp staining, extra wide margins, stamps of previous owners. A very good copy bound in contemporary half leather boards, rubbed.

The copy of R. Hayyim Berlin (1832–1912), eldest son of R. Naphtali Zevi Judah Berlin, head of the yeshivah at Volozhin for some 40 years. R. Hayyim Berlin received his education from his father and became conversant with all aspects of rabbinic literature as well as being well versed in Jewish subjects. At the age of seventeen he married into the wealthy Zeitlin family of Shklov, and later used part of his wealth to amass an excellent library which was acquired by the Yeshivat Ez Hayyim of Jerusalem after his death.

In 1865 R. Berlin became the rabbi of Moscow. In 1889 he returned to Volozhin at the request of his aged father, who wanted his son to succeed him as head of the yeshivah. However, he was opposed by many of the Volozhin yeshivah students, who favored the election of his niece's husband, R. Hayyim Soloveichik, who was renowned for his unique analytical approach to talmudic study. The controversy soon ended with the forced closing of the school by the Russian government on January 22, 1892. With the closing of the yeshivah, R. Berlin became the rabbi of Yelizavetgrad (Kirovograd), where he remained until 1906, when he settled in Jerusalem. His erudition, family heritage, and patriarchal appearance gained for him a leading role on the Jerusalem scene, and in 1909 he was elected to succeed R. Samuel Salant as chief rabbi of the Ashkenazi community of Jerusalem.

 

Detail Description

Important halakhic work on the laws of Niddah by R. Solomon ben Judah Kluger, one of the foremost rabbinic sages of the nineteenth century. The document is actually comprised of several wills and testaments, the first and longest dated Thursday, 4 Adar Rishon “you are justified תצדק (594 = 1834) in your sentence, and clear in your judgment” (Psalms 51:6). R. Kluger notes that he has entered his fiftieth year and that in the year of the Yovel (fiftieth year) that “shall return every man to his possession” (Leviticus 25:10, 13). Comprised of seventeen paragraphs, the first is general, the others more specific. It is followed by a second briefer will and testament dated 1848, a third dated 1854, and a fourth dated 1853. The monograph concludes with a statement from R. Kluger’s son R. Benjamin Kluger. A fascinating document that gives insight into the thinking of one of the greatest rabbis of the of the nineteenth century.

R. Solomon ben Judah Kluger (1785–1869) was a talmudist and halakhist. Kluger became known as the Maggid of Brody and as MaHaRSHaK (Morenu ha-Rav Shelomo Kluger). He received his early education from his father, the rabbi of Komarov, who died during Solomon's boyhood. At 13 he went to Zamosc where he studied under Mordecai Reuben and R. Jacob Kranz , the famous maggid of Dubno. He soon became known as an illui ("prodigy"). For a time he lived in Rava where he became a shopkeeper, but failed. He was then prevailed upon to accept the post of rabbi at Kolki; from there he went to Josefov and in 1820 to Brody, where he remained for about 50 years. R. Kluger had a great reputation which still endures. A prolific writer, he wrote hundreds of responsa. He is said to have written 375 books, the numerical equivalent of his name Solomon; the list of his known works comprises no less then 174, of which 15 were published during his life and 15 posthumously. Kluger was an extremist in his orthodoxy, vehemently opposing the maskilim, whose influence was already making itself felt in Brody, and fighting against every endeavor to change the least important of religious customs prevalent in Eastern Europe. He led the opposition to the use of machine-baked unleavened bread for Passover, but in this he was motivated mainly by social considerations, claiming that it would rob many poor people of a much needed source of income on Passover. He was succeeded in Brody by his son, Abraham Benjamin.

 

Hebrew Description

... על מס’ נדה. חדושי הלכות ואגדות. וחדושי פוסקים (ק"א [קונטרס אחרון] על ה[לכות] נדה... מקוואות... מהדורא קמא... מהדורא תנינא)... אשר חיבר הרב... מהו’ שלמה קלוגר ראב"ד ומ"מ ומ"ץ בק"ק בראד... הובא לבית הדפוס ע"י... בן... המחבר... מהו’ חיים יהודא נ"י. בשנת שמעו ותחי נפשכם ב’ד’ב’ר’י’ ש’ל’מ’ה’ עם הכולל

דף סה-[סט]: השמטות. דף עא-עו: שירי טהרה; מותר השמטות מספו מי נדה וק"א הל’ נדה. ששה דפים אלו הדפיס המחבר לאחר שיצא ספרו "מי נדה" וספחם לטפסים שנשארו בידו. עי’ להלן: שירי טהרה.

 

References

EJ; Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 # 000164104