Bidspirit auction | Manuscript, Beit Chochmah on Shir

Manuscript, Beit Chochmah on Shir HaShirim – Handwritten by Author Rabbi Yeshayah Yaakov HaLevi of Alesk, Disciple of the Baal Shem Tov and Member of the Kloiz in Brody - Manuscript, Beit Chochmah – kabbalistic commentary on Shir HaShirim, handwritten by the author, R. Yeshayah Yaakov HaLevi, Rabbi of Alesk, a member of the Kloiz of Brody and disciple of the Baal Shem Tov. [Galicia or Podolia], 1803. Neat Ashkenazic cursive script, with some corrections, handwritten by author. At the beginning of the manuscript, title page dated 1803. Colophon at end of manuscript: ”Completed 25th Nisan 1803”. The present item was one of the manuscripts of the author purchased by Rebbe Shalom I of Kaminka, printed at the initiative of his son Rebbe Yehoshua of Kaminka in 1898 in Podgórze by Shaul Chananiah Deutscher. R. Yeshayah Yaakov HaLevi of Alesk (ca. 1740-1811), holy kabbalist and member of the Kloiz of Brody, where he was an intimate disciple of the kabbalist R. Chaim Sanzer, and later (as attested by the Imrei Yosef of Spinka) also drew close to the Baal Shem Tov (see below). A description of his youth in the Brody Kloiz is preserved by R. Chaim Landau, Rabbi of Pidkamin – the leading rabbi of the Kloiz, who describes R. Yeshayah Yaakov: ”I remember when I was a boy… he did not depart the tent of Torah, studying much and receiving much from senior Torah scholars, until he became like an inexhaustible wellspring and an ever-flowing river in the revealed and hidden Torah…” (from his approbation to VeCherev Pifiyot). At the Kloiz, R. Yeshayah Yaakov of Alesk became the close disciple of the kabbalist R. Chaim Sanzer, head of the Kloiz kabbalists (the Noda BiYehudah, who studied kabbalah with R. Chaim Sanzer, said that he had mastered all the writings of the Arizal and all other known kabbalists, and the Baal Shem Tov stated that he had a spark of the soul of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai). R. Chaim Sanzer held R. Yeshayah Yaakov in high esteem, stating that ”his brain could contain the brains of a thousand other sages of his generation” (cited by Rebbe Shalom II of Kaminka in his approbation to Beit Malchut, in the name of Rebbe Shalom I of Kaminka). The title page of the printed edition of the present work contains a brief allusion to a miracle he experienced, when he received divine approval for his works: ”…who had heavenly approval with a candle of mitzvah while writing his holy writings”. The full story is recounted by the Imrei Yosef of Spinka: After the Noda BiYehudah left Brody for Prague, the members of the Kloiz decided to each perform some service for R. Chaim Sanzer. R. Yeshayah Yaakov took upon himself to put on R. Chaim Sanzer his belt before prayer, during which time R. Yeshayah Yaakov would contemplate lofty kavanot. R. Yeshayah Yaakov, who had avoided writing down his many novellae so as not to waste time for Torah study, decided to perform an experiment to see whether it was G-d's will for him to write them down. He lit a small candle and held it in his hand, and decided to write until he felt the fire on his fingers. Although it was a long winter night, the candle miraculously burned all night long, and consequently he was late in putting on R. Chaim Sanzer's belt. When R. Chaim Sanzer felt that he was thinking about the heavenly sign he had received to write his novellae, he rebuked him, quoting the verse ”A haughty heart is abominated by the Lord” (R. Yitzchak Weiss, Elef Ketav, II, Bnei Brak 1997, no. 512; another version appears in Otzar HaSipurim, I, Jerusalem 1951, pp. 10-12). The Imrei Yosef of Spinka added (Elef Ketav, ibid.) that he later became a student of the Baal Shem Tov, who once reminded him of the verse R. Chaim Sanzer had quoted to him, demonstrating to him the Baal Shem Tov's ruach hakodesh. The printed edition of Beit Chochmah contains two additional selections from the writings of R. Yeshayah Yaakov of Alesk (not in the present manuscript): a commentary Maalei Shabta on Psalm 107 (Hodu), and the commentary Shaar HaEchad on Kegavna. The custom to recite Hodu before Minchah on Friday afternoon was established by the Baal Shem Tov (see article by Rivkah Shatz cited below), and the custom to recite Kegavna before Maariv on Shabbat eve was apparently established by the rabbis of the Brody Kloiz, but became widespread in the second generation of Chassidut. R. Yeshayah Yaakov's commentary on Psalm 107 evidences that he possessed a commentary by the Baal Shem Tov on this psalm (see: Rivkah Shatz, Perusho Shel HaBaal Shem Tov LeMizmor 107, Tarbitz, XLII, 1973, p. 158). VeCherev Pifiyot is the only book by R. Yeshayah Yaakov of Alesk printed in his lifetime, in Lviv 1787 (with approbations by the rabbis of the Brody Kloiz, R. Shmuel son of R. Chaim Sanzer, R. Yissachar Ber of Zlotchov author of Mevaser Tzedek and Bat Eini, and more). His other works remained in manuscript in many volumes. R. Shalom I of Kaminka purchased R. Yeshayah Yaakov's works from his heirs,