Bidspirit auction | Signature of Rabbi Chaim Palaggi

Signature of Rabbi Chaim Palaggi – Signature of Rabbi Chaim Daniel Shlomo Pinso – Inscription By Rabbi Zundel Salant. Responsa Chikrei Lev, First Edition, Salonika 1806. - Responsa Chikrei Lev, Yoreh De'ah, Part 3, by the great Gaon Rabbi Yosef Chazan, one of the prominent sages of Izmir and Jerusalem. First Edition. Salonika, 1806. At the top of the title page appears the signature of the renowned Gaon Rabbi Chaim Palaggi – known by the acronym ”the Chabif” (1788–1868), Chief Rabbi of Izmir and one of the most famous Torah giants of his generation. He authored ninety-five books on Jewish law, novellae, and ethical teachings. Beneath his signature is an antique inscription stating that the sefer was gifted by the son of the author to the Beit Midrash Tzemach David Yavetz. Antique inscription in the handwriting and signature of the Gaon Rabbi Chaim Daniel Shlomo Pinso, reading: “A good gift it is to me from Rav Nehorai Hac''h the humble youth Chaim Daniel Pinso.” Rabbi Chaim Daniel Shlomo Pinso, a noted kabbalist, was born in Sarajevo to his father, the Gaon Rabbi Avraham Pinso (author of Apei Zutrei and Mishpat Katuv). In his youth, he studied Torah with his father and the rabbis of his hometown. Around 1805, he immigrated to the Land of Israel with his father and settled in Jerusalem. He studied Torah diligently day and night, distinguished by his humility and deep fear of Heaven. Each night after reciting Tikkun Chatzot he continued studying until morning prayers at sunrise. He lived ascetically, eating only minimal food, and immersed himself in the study of Kabbalah at the famed Beit El yeshiva, where he became one of the leading Kabbalists in Jerusalem. He authored the sefer Shem Chadash on the Yere'im (Jerusalem, 1843). His kabbalistic insights are cited in Emet L’Yaakov by Rabbi Yeshua Shabtai Ninio (the Mahari”sh). He passed away in 1841 and was buried to the east of the grave of the saintly Rabbi Shalom Sharabi (the Rashash). The sefer later passed to the Beit Midrash Menachem Tzion, located in the Hurva of Rabbi Yehuda HaChassid. As is well known, when the Gaon and kabbalist Rabbi Zundel Salant immigrated from Lithuania to the Land of Israel, he refused to serve in any official rabbinic position and instead supported himself as the librarian of the Hurva synagogue’s sefer treasury. As with many seforim from the Hurva’s library, this copy bears an inscription and ownership marking for the Beit Midrash Menachem Tzion, in the distinctive handwriting of Rabbi Zundel Salant. On the title page, Rabbi Zundel copies the inscription of Rabbi Chaim Daniel Shlomo Pinso, transliterating it from Sephardic script to Ashkenazic script: “A good gift it is to me from Rav Nehorai, who call me the humble youth…” At the top of page 58 appears an inscription, also in his handwriting, incorporating the initials of the page “ To the Beit Midrash Menachem Tzion, Holy City of Jerusalem, may it be rebuilt and established.”  There are also stamps (partially erased) from the Beit Midrash Menachem Tzion. Rabbi Yosef Zundel of Salant (1786–1865), the righteous Gaon, was the founder and father of the Mussar movement. A disciple of Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin and the teacher of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, founder of the Mussar movement. His son-in-law was Rabbi Shmuel Salant, Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, who wrote the following about him: “Just as he was great in his character traits, so too was he great in Torah. As vast as his knowledge was in the revealed aspects of Torah, so too was his knowledge of its hidden dimensions. He was a giant of the generation both in Torah and in character, but through his immense and wondrous humility, he succeeded in concealing his greatness from the public.” In his later years, Rabbi Zundel ascended to Jerusalem, where he served as a halachic authority for the Ashkenazic community. [1], 156 Leaves. 28.2 cm.