Bidspirit auction | Extremely Rare 1743 Constantinople First

Extremely Rare 1743 Constantinople First Edition of She'elot U'Teshuvot Ch”b on Orah Chaim by Rabbi Chaim Benveniste (Author of Knesset HaGedolah) – Unrecorded on the Market with Historic Holocaust-Rescue JCR Bookplate - An extraordinary Sephardic halachic first edition of remarkable scarcity, uniting elite rabbinic authorship with a documented provenance of wartime survival. The Work & Author: This volume is the definitive first edition of She'elot U'Teshuvot Ch”b (שאלות ותשובות ח”ב), containing the monumental responsa of maran Rabbi Chaim Benveniste (הגאון רבי חיים בנבנישתי זצ”ל; 1603–1673), the world-renowned author of the foundational Knesset HaGedolah (כנסת הגדולה). The letters ”Ch”b” (ח”ב) represent the direct Hebrew acronym for his name (Chaim Benveniste). This specific work contains his complete, highly authoritative legal decisions covering the laws of Tor Orah Chaim. Bibliographical Rarity: Printed in Constantinople (Kushtandina) in 1743 (ה'תק”ג) by the scholar Rabbi Shlomo Ashkenazi from rare family manuscripts. This edition represents a highly prized, standalone printing from the golden era of Ottoman typography. Genuine 18th-century Constantinople editions of such primary responsa are exceptionally scarce and hard to encounter in complete condition, making this a premier acquisition for discerning collectors of Sephardic rabbinica. The Historic JCR Provenance (Holocaust Rescue): Adding immense institutional and emotional value, the front endpaper preserves the original graphic bookplate of the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction (JCR) organization (”תקומה לתרבות ישראל”). This documents the volume as a rare surviving artifact that was looted by the Nazi regime during WWII, rescued by international relief commissions from the depots in Germany after the war, and repatriated to safely rebuild the libraries of the Jewish people. Notable Connection: Rabbi Chaim Benveniste’s wide-reaching rulings served as a primary cornerstone for the Chida and subsequent generations of halachic arbiters. First editions of his works printed in Constantinople are prized crown jewels for serious rabbinic libraries.