Bidspirit auction | Hesped for Nashim Tzidkaniyos —

Hesped for Nashim Tzidkaniyos — In the Ksav Yad of the Gaon, Baal Tiferes Yisroel — 1842 A hesped for Nashim Tzidkaniyos , written in Lashon Kodesh and in Ashkenaz (in Hebrew letters), in the ksav yad of the gaon R’ Yisroel Lipschitz, Baal Tiferes Yisroel on Mishnayos. At the head of the pages appears the notation “Ge’onma” — roshei teivos of Gal Einai v’Abitah Niflaos MiTorasecha. Rabbeinu records that this hesped was delivered for two women, as noted on the first page: “L’eishes Mendelssohn Junior, 11 Av 1847…” “…V’chazar v’nespad ad gemira l’eishes Avraham Lichtenstein, Erev Rosh Chodesh Elul 1847…” Additional notations appear as well. It is evident that the Tiferes Yisroel was meticulous in preparing this hesped. In several places he revised and refined his wording by pasting small slips of paper with corrected text over the original writing. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • R’ Yisroel Lipschitz — Baal Tiferes Yisroel R’ Yisroel Lipschitz (1782–1861), son of R’ Gedalyah, Baal Regel Yesharah, grandson of the Baal Or Yisroel of Kleve, and descending from distinguished geonic lineage including the Baal Dammesek Eliezer and R’ Shaul Wahl. He learned Torah from his father and later served in rabbonus in Voronki, Dessau, and ultimately in the great city of Danzig. His conduct was with great perishus and tzidkus. His son testified that during his years in Dessau, he would at times fast for three consecutive days, sitting in tallis and tefillin, without interruption from learning. His monumental peirush, Tiferes Yisroel on Shas Mishnayos, printed over a span of nearly twenty years, became one of the foundational peirushim on Mishnayos and remains standard in printed editions to this day. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • The Controversy and the Defense A major controversy erupted in his time regarding a comment he wrote that Moshe Rabbeinu’s face initially resembled that of a rasha, and only through avodah and refinement did it become sanctified (Tiferes Yisroel, Kiddushin 4:77). R’ Chaim Yitzchak Aharon Rappaport wrote a sharp pamphlet against this titled Kelil Tiferes. In later years, however, the gaon R’ Yosef Zechariah Stern, Baal Zecher Yehosef, came to his defense, explaining that his words were meant “b’haskel l’hagdil ma’alas bechir ha’yetzurim.” It is noteworthy that earlier tzaddikim of Chassidus had expressed a similar idea. See Degel Machaneh Ephraim (Parshas Tisa) in the name of the Baal Shem Tov: “Moshe Rabbeinu was born with the potential for all middos ra’os, but he overturned and broke them, and strove only to acquire middos tovos…” “Mitzvah gedolah l’hisped al ha’meis ka’ra’ui… k’shem she’mispedin al ha’anashim, kach mispedin al ha’nashim ka’ra’ui lahem…” (Shulchan Aruch YD 344)