Bidspirit auction | “Kodesh Hillulim” – Signature of

“Kodesh Hillulim” – Signature of the Holy Gaon Rabbi Hillel Lichtenstein of Kolomyia – Kerem Shlomo, First Edition, Pressburg 1840. - Responsa Kerem Shlomo by the Gaon Rabbi Shlomo Haas, Av Beit Din of Dreznitz  – including a discourse on the Passover Haggadah by the author of the Shach (Siftei Kohen), printed here for the first time. With the approbation of Rabbi Moshe Sofer, the Chatam Sofer. On the title page appears the handwritten signature of the Holy Gaon Rabbi Hillel Lichtenstein of Kolomyia, reading: “Chanun chanani Hashem b’zeh Hillel L”Sh” With 2 short marginal notations in his holy hand. At the beginning of the book is the approbation of Maran the Chatam Sofer, in which he praises the sefer and its author and refers with special fondness to the discourse by the author of the Shach on the Passover Haggadah. He writes: “Where the tree falls, there shall its fruits be – sacred fruits of praise (pri kodesh hillulim) , a sweet and pleasant discourse on the ‘fifteen expressions of praise’ in the Haggadah. ”   A wondrous and striking detail! It is well known that the Chatam Sofer referred to his student, Rabbi Hillel Lichtenstein, with the unique expression “Kodesh Hillulim” (“Sacred Praises”), and in his approbation to this very sefer, he uses that same expression. The Holy Gaon Rabbi Hillel Lichtenstein (1811-1891) was among the greatest disciples of the ”Chatam Sofer”. He was born in the city of Vecs to his father, the judge Gaon Rabbi Baruch Bendit. From his youth, he was known for his fear of Heaven and his devotion to the Creator. When he studied at the Pressburg Yeshiva, he was a favorite student of the ”Chatam Sofer” who greatly esteemed him for his pure fear of Heaven [and applied to him and his cousin Rabbi Hillel Pollak the verse ”Holy praise to the Lord”]. He served as rabbi in Margareten and Szikszó in Hungary, and in 1867 he moved to serve as rabbi in Kolomea, Galicia. He was a famous Maggid, a fighter of the Lord's battles, who stood in the breach and rebuked his generation for breaches in the wall of the vineyard of Israel. He was revered by the great rabbis of his generation, and the Admor, the ”Divrei Chaim” of Sanz, spoke highly of him. His responsa were printed in the sefer ”Teshuvot Beit Hillel” (Satmar 1908) and his sermons were printed in the four parts of his sefer ”Maskil El Dal”, ”Et La'asot” and more. 57, [2], 60-61, [2], 64-67 Leaves. 23.5 cm.