Bidspirit auction | Autograph Signature of the Chayei

Autograph Signature of the Chayei Adam on His Personal Copy of Mesoras Seyag LaTorah – Berlin, 1761 Second edition of Mesoras Seyag LaTorah , the classic work of Rabbi Meir ben Todros HaLevi Abulafia (Known as the Ramah) on the precise transmission of the text of the Torah, detailing the correct reading and spelling of every word in Tanach. Printed from the author's manuscript. Berlin, 1761. The title page bears the autograph signature: ”...Avraham Danzig...” the authentic signature of Rabbi Avraham Danzig, author of the classic Chayei Adam and Chochmas Adam. It appears that this fundamental work served Rabbi Danzig in his halachic deliberations concerning errors found in a Sefer Torah or mistakes made during the public Torah reading, subjects he discusses in Chayei Adam , Klal 31. The volume contains a small number of handwritten marginal notes, which have not been examined. Rabbi Avraham Danzig (1748–1820), author of the classic Chayei Adam and Chochmas Adam , was one of the foremost poskim of the later generations, whose seforim became the cornerstone of practical halachah in countless Jewish homes, particularly throughout Lithuania. In his youth he studied under the Noda BiYehudah , and later became a mechutan of the Vilna Gaon through the Gra's son , preserving many of the Gra's teachings and hanhagos in his own writings. The Chafetz Chaim was known to describe someone meticulous in his observance of halachah as ”a Chayei Adam Yid.” Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin , in his haskamah to the Chayei Adam (1814), writes: ”...I have seen this distinguished and renowned gaon, whom Heaven has assisted... and at once his sefer Chayei Adam on the laws of Orach Chaim was accepted and spread throughout all the borders of Klal Yisroel.”   A remarkable testimony to the extraordinary reception the work enjoyed already during the author's lifetime!