Bidspirit auction | Manuscript on Kabbalah in the

Manuscript on Kabbalah in the holy autograph of the godly Kabbalist Gaon Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Shklov, one of the foremost disciples of the Vilna Gaon. - A single folio with Kabbalistic novellae in the sacred handwriting of the godly Kabbalist Gaon Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Shklov, one of the greatest disciples of the Vilna Gaon and among the earliest founders of the Jewish settlement in the Holy Land. It is remarkable to note that on this folio the Tetragrammaton is written out in full, something almost never found in the writings of our Rabbis, which greatly increases its sanctity!! Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Shklov was a descendant of Rabbi Yehuda Yidel, Av Beit Din of Kovel, author of Kol Yehuda. His lineage traces all the way back to Rabbeinu HaKadosh, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi. He was one of the outstanding disciples of the Vilna Gaon, and among the very few who committed his teachings to writing. Rabbi Menachem Mendel served the Gaon for nearly two years prior to the Gaon’s passing, absorbing from him much both in the revealed and hidden Torah. He is mentioned in the list of the Gaon’s select disciples, recorded by the Gaon’s sons in the introduction to the Gaon’s commentary. In 1808 Rabbi Menachem Mendel ascended to Eretz Yisrael, settling first in the Galilee and later in Jerusalem. He was the first to establish the Ashkenazic community in Jerusalem, for ever since the failed immigration of Rabbi Yehuda HeChassid and the crushing debts incurred, every Ashkenazi who came to Jerusalem was subject to imprisonment as collateral for the debt. Through Rabbi Menachem Mendel’s favorable connections with various Christians, he succeeded in reaching a settlement regarding the debt, and from then on Ashkenazi Jews were permitted to reside in Jerusalem. Rabbi Menachem Mendel edited and published several of his teacher the Gaon’s writings, including Mishlei with the Gaon’s commentary, the Gaon’s glosses on Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim, the Gaon’s commentary on Sefer Yetzirah, and other works. At one point he intended to publish one of his own treatises entitled Sha’ar HaTzimtzum, but for various reasons this did not materialize. Over the years, some of his writings were eventually printed, some only in very recent times, while others remain in manuscript to this day. It is already well known that from Heaven it was arranged that even the great Chassidic masters would proclaim him holy, as follows: In 1885  the work Menachem Tzion was published in Przemyśl, attributed to “the late Rebbi Menachem Mendel, of blessed memory, whose resting place is in the Holy City of Tiberias.” From the statements of the printers and approbations (most of them from the holy sons of the Divrei Chaim of Sanz), it is clear that they ascribed the work to Rebbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk. In the introduction, the printers relate that the manuscript had been in the possession of the holy Rebbi Chaim of Sanz, who studied it daily with affection!