Bidspirit auction | Tur Barekes, First Edition, Amsterdam

Tur Barekes, First Edition, Amsterdam 1654 With the Holy Signatures of the Noda B’Yehuda and his elder brother,   * A kabbalistic commentary on Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim (with the text of Shulchan Aruch) by the Kabbalist Rabbi Chaim HaKohen of Aram Tzova, a disciple of the divine Kabbalist Rabbi Chaim Vital. This is a holy and highly distinguished copy of the Torah giants of the Landau family. The title page bears the holy signature of the Noda B’Yehuda: Yechezkel son of the honorable Rabbi Yehuda Landau of Apta. Also present is the signature of his elder brother, Rabbi Yosef Segal Landau: The humble Yosef, son of the officer the honorable Rabbi Yehuda Segal Landau. Rabbi Yechezkel Landau, author of Noda B’Yehuda and Tzlach (1714–1793), was born in the illustrious city of Apta in Poland to his father, “the great rav” Rabbi Yehuda Landau (Tzlach, Pesachim 70b), one of the leaders of the Council of the Four Lands, and in his honor the sefer was called Noda B’Yehuda. It became known throughout all Klal Yisrael as one of the sifrei yesod of halachic teshuvos. One who examines the writings of the sages of his generation, and those who followed, will see that no praise was left unsaid about him. It is impossible to overlook the extraordinary honor and the almost absolute Torah authority granted to his rulings. He was described as “the heart of Yisrael, the captain of the ship and its leader, the father of the sages” (as expressed in the drasha of the Chasam Sofer). Rabbi Chaim of Sanz writes in his teshuvos Divrei Chaim: “Who am I before the Gaon of Geonim, the author of Noda B’Yehuda… and if I have seen some rabbanim in their imagination responding critically to the Noda B’Yehuda, it is, alas, due to lack of understanding and lightness. Go out and see the difference between the mighty of earlier generations — Noda B’Yehuda of blessed memory — whose strength in halacha was known, and who was almost never defeated by any man.” Rabbi Yosef Segal Landau , Av Beis Din of Klimentov, the elder brother of the Noda B’Yehuda, was the son-in-law of Rabbi Betzalel Katz, Av Beis Din of Ostroh who was the son of the holy Kabbalist Rabbi Naftali Katz, author of Semichas Chachamim. His brother, the Noda B'Yehuda, mentions in his teshuvos a remarkable fact — that Rabbi Yosef was married before the age of bar mitzvah. These are his words: “And my elder brother, the great rav, our master Rabbi Yosef, of blessed memory, was married to the daughter of the Gaon, the Av Beis Din of Ostroh, in the month of Shevat, in the middle of the month, and he became bar mitzvah afterward, on the twenty-second of Adar.” His sons-in-law were Rabbi Mordechai of Apta, son of Rabbi Yehuda Leib, Av Beis Din of Shidlov and Cracow and Rabbi Yehoshua Heshel HaLevi Horowitz, son of Rabbi Menachem Manis HaLevi Horowitz, brother-in-law of the Noda B'Yehuda and brother of Rabbi Itzikel Hamburger. (They were involved in the famous case of the Get of Brody, over which the two uncles — the Noda B'Yehuda and Rabbi Itzikel Hamburger — contended in halacha.) Amsterdam, 1654. First edition. Page Count: 442 leaves. Size: 18 cm. Condition: Complete copy; fair condition. Holes on numerous leaves, water stains; restoration repairs to the title page and final leaves; original binding, restored and partially reconstructed. Sefer Tur Barekes Tur Barekes contains unique and interesting content that weaves together halacha and Kabbalah. Each law in the Shulchan Aruch is explained by way of mussar — what ethical lesson is learned from it, and especially the allusion and secret concealed within it according to the wisdom of Kabbalah. Within his words, the author also interlaces many novel practical rulings, cited by major poskim such as the Eliyahu Rabbah and especially the Chida. His comprehensive composition on all four sections of Shulchan Aruch bears the collective title Mekor Chaim. Each section was named after one of the stones of the Choshen: Tur Barekes, Tur Pitdah, Tur Yahalom, and the like. This present volume is titled Tur Barekes. The Amsterdam 1654 printing is the second sefer to appear in this series, preceded only by Mekor Chaim, Constantinople 1650. The Kabbalist Rabbi Chaim HaKohen (c. 1585–1655) from Aram Tzova, author of Mekor Chaim and Toras Chacham, was the primary disciple of Rabbi Chaim Vital, from whom he studied the wisdom of Kabbalah. He journeyed from Aram Tzova to Italy to print his works. He was one of the great masters of Kabbalah, and even the eminent Kabbalist Rabbi Moshe Zakuto addressed questions of Kabbalah to him. While in Venice for the printing of Toras Chacham (Venice 1654), he encountered Rabbi Nosson Nota Hannover, who became his disciple in Kabbalah and later printed from him in his renowned work Shaarei Tzion the piyut Kol Beramah Nishma, recited in Tikkun Chatzos. Rabbi Chaim HaKohen was greatly revered by the Chidah, who cites him dozens of times and describes him with titles such as “the chassid,