Tevunah by the Gaon of Poltava. The Last Jewish Book Printed in Communist Russia. Paltova, 1926

Tevunah by the Gaon of Poltava. The Last Jewish Book Printed in Communist Russia. Paltova, 1926

Tevunah. Novellae on the Mishneh Torah L'HaRambam, by Rabbi Yitzchak Krasilschikov.  Paltova, 1926.

Specifications: [3] 42 [1] page, paper. 32 cm. On the last page, on the back jacket title page, there is a handwritten change to the address, apparently by the author.

Rabbi Yitzchak Krasilschikov [1888-1965] was a wondrous person, known as the "Gaon of Paltova." He served as rabbi in a number of communities in Russia and then moved to Moscow where he worked as an accountant. During the Second World War, he moved to Siberia and then returned to Moscow. This is his first work, the second section was printed about fifty years later, posthumously. He is known for his giant work on the Yerushalmi Talmud, Toldot Yitzchak, which he wrote while he was in Moscow. He hid this twenty-volume work he had authored in manuscript form. His final request was that his manuscripts be rescued and taken out of Russia and printed. Leading Torah personalities were amazed by the commentary itself and the harsh conditions under which it was written. In recent years, many volumes of this giant work have been printed, under the guidance of Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky.

Unique Features: This was the last Torah work to be printed in Communist Russia.

Refer to Al Tidom, Rabbi Tzvi Baronstein, p. 281-282; and Pirsumim Yehudiyim B'Brit HaMoatzot 1917-1960, Jerusalem 1961, p. 36 and 22.

Condition: Fine-very fine.