Bidspirit auction | Chassidus – Birkas Dovid –

Chassidus – Birkas Dovid – First Edition – Lemberg, 1845 Birkas Dovid , Chassidic discourses on Sefer Bereishis by Rabbi Avraham Dovid of Butchatch . First edition . Lemberg, 1845. The title page bears the Hebrew date 5565 and the secular date 1800 , yet both are intentionally fictitious, as is the name of the printer, Judith Rosanis. These details were evidently falsified because of the Austrian censorship imposed upon the printing of Torah and Chassidic sefarim in Galicia. The true year of printing is 1845 , alluded to by the printer at the close of the sefer with the words ”Tefillah L'Elokei Dovid, ” whose gematria equals 605 (תר”ה ). Likewise, the statement printed on the verso of the title page explaining that the approbations were omitted ”for a hidden reason” appears to refer to these same censorship restrictions. Rabbi Avraham Dovid of Butchatch (1771–1841) was one of the foremost gedolei Torah and Chassidus of his generation, revered alike as a posek and a tzaddik. Among the great tzaddikim with whom he associated were the Kedushas Levi of Berditchev, Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sassov, Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch of Nadvorna, author of Tzemach Hashem LaTzvi, and the Be'er Mayim Chaim. His sefarim became cornerstones of halachic literature, foremost among them his monumental Eshel Avraham (Butchatch) on the Shulchan Aruch , one of the most widely studied and authoritative halachic commentaries.