Bidspirit auction | Handwritten Dedication of Rabbi Elchanan

Handwritten Dedication of Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman – On His Kovetz Hearot – Piotrków, 1932 – First Edition - Responsa of the Rashba on Tractate Yevamot (”collected from the books of responsa”) with Kovetz Hearot on Tractate Yevamot – ”and some explanations of aggadot following the simple method”, by R. Elchanan Bunim Wasserman, dean of Baranovitch yeshiva. Piotrków: Chanoch Henich Follman, 1932. First edition. Two title pages. On verso of first leaf: printed by Grafja. On front endpaper, handwritten dedication of author, R. Elchanan Wasserman, addressed to Rabbi Dr. Aharon Neuwirth of Berlin: ”In honor of the important, dear and very lofty… R. Aharon Dr. Neuwirth in Berlin, esteeming and honoring him in accordance with his high merits – the author”. Stamps of recipient: ”Rabbiner Dr. A. Neuwirth, berlin NW 87” – R. Aharon Neuwirth (1881-1958), father of R. Yehoshua Yeshaya Neuwirth, author of the well-known Shemirath Shabbath (Shemirat Shabbat KeHilchatah). The author, R. Elchanan Bunim Wasserman, dean of the Baranovitch yeshiva (1875-1941; perished in the Holocaust), a renowned Torah scholar, and foremost yeshiva dean in Lithuania. He was a disciple of R. Shimon Shkop in the Telshe yeshiva and a prominent disciple of the Chafetz Chaim. He served as lecturer and dean in the Brisk (Brest) yeshiva and other places. During World War I, at the behest of the Chafetz Chaim, he established a yeshiva in Smilavichy (Minsk province, present-day Belarus). After the war, R. Elchanan founded the Ohel Torah yeshiva in Baranovitch (Baranavichy). He represented the Chafetz Chaim and R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski in the Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah of Agudat Yisrael. He authored many essays on Jewish thought which were later published in his book Ikveta DeMeshicha, in which he expressed the Torah stance of his teacher the Chafetz Chaim on Zionist nationalism and the spiritual state of the Jewish people. During the Holocaust, he was deported to the Kovno (Kaunas) ghetto, and was murdered in the Seventh Fort, while studying the laws of Kiddush HaShem. His teachings and lectures were published in Kovetz Shiurim, Kovetz Hearot, Kovetz Inyanim, Kovetz Igrot HaGaon R. Elchanan Wasserman and other books. His study methodology and books serve to this day as the basis of intensive yeshiva study in the Torah world. His Kovetz Hearot on Tractate Yevamot is a foundational book presenting R. Elchanan's approach, delving into the depth of Talmudic passages and transmitting a pure Torah outlook (in the volume's commentaries on aggadot, he cites and explains the teachings of the Chafetz Chaim on the current tribulations before the coming of the Mashiach). The second edition was printed in Vilna, 1936, and it has since been reprinted in dozens of editions from Vilna to Shanghai, New York, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other locations. [3], 2-27 leaves; [2], 2-50 leaves. 33 cm. Dry paper, wide margins. Good-fair condition. Stains and wear. Marginal tears. Loose and detached leaves. Original fabric binding, with wear and defects.