Bidspirit auction | The exampler of Rabbi Yaakov

The exampler of Rabbi Yaakov HaKohen Wiesenfeld, Av Beis Din of Zaklikov. Shiv’im Tikkunei Zohar, with the commentary Chemdas Tzvi by Rabbi Tzvi Hotch. Amsterdam, 1706. First edition. Rare. Sefer Shiv’im Tikkunei HaZohar, with the commentary Chemdas Tzvi by Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch ben Rabbi Yerachmiel Hotch of Krakow. Moshe ben Rabbi Avraham Mindis Kotinia Press, Amsterdam, 1706. With a miracle account in the holy handwriting of Rabbi Yaakov HaKohen Wiesenfeld of Apt. First and rare edition of a Sefer that was suspected of Sabbateanism. 8, 164 leaves. With the stamp of Rabbi Yaakov HaKohen Wiesenfeld of Apt, and the stamp of his son-in-law Rabbi Toviah Gutman HaKohen Rappoport of Toronto. With approbations of the Gedolei of his generation. On the reverse of the title page is a lengthy note in the holy handwriting of Rabbi Yaakov HaKohen Wiesenfeld, in which he relates to the statement in the introduction that the manuscripts from which the Sefer was printed were in a chest when a house collapsed and miraculously survived, and he records a wonder that occurred in Apt regarding a writing of a Tzaddik that was eaten by mice, yet the very letters of his holy handwriting were not damaged. With several annotations and line markings. The Yaavetz wrote against the Sefer before us and suspected its author of Sabbateanism, and some found hints of this in the illustration and in the emphasis of the name “Tzvi” on the title page, and in quotations within the Sefer. In the introduction to another edition of Tikkunei HaZohar, Rabbi Naftali Katz wrote that he had retracted the approbation that he had given to the present Sefer. The mighty Gaon Rabbi Yaakov HaKohen Wiesenfeld (1851–1926) — of Apt, Av Beis Din of Zaklikov in Poland. The story of his life was inscribed in brief on his Matzeivah in Zaklikov in these words: ... המנוח הרב ז”ל נולד בעיר אפט, שם חי רוב שנותיו בתור סוחר וגביר גדול. תורה וגדולה במקום אחד. עשה מסחרו ארעי ותורתו קבע. בגיל של חמישים נתכבד בכבוד גדול לפ”ק, ושימש פה במשרת הרבנות חמשה ועשרים שנים. הרה”ג ז”ל היה מיחוסי כהונה חוטר משפחת גדולי ישראל. שמו הטוב יצא למרחוק בתור גאון וחכם חרשים, ומדת צדקו ותום רוחו הפליא את כל יודעיו... He was very close with Harav HaKadosh Rabbi Yechiel Meir of Ostrovtza. He possessed a precious and rare library, and he would frequently write his Chiddushim on the margins of the leaves of his many Sefarim in all disciplines of Torah, and recorded in them traditions from the Tzaddikim of earlier generations. A drop from the sea of his annotations in his Sefarim was printed in the margins of the Etz Chaim journal of Bobov Chassidus. Damaged binding. Wormholes and stains. Adhesions. Fair condition.