Collection of Leaves Handwritten by Rabbi Nachum of Shadik – Jerusalem, 1847

Collection of handwritten leaves, novellae on Tractate Bava Metzia – Daf 2-5. Autograph of 29 pages, handwritten by R. Nachum Weisfish of Shadik (Szadek). Jerusalem, 1847. The top of the first page contains an opening title: "Bava Metzia, [Daf] 2. Here in the holy city of Jerusalem, Tuesday Iyar 4, 1847". R. Nachum Rabbi of Shadik (1813-1868) was the son of R. Moshe Avraham Loew Weisfish and disciple of the Chemdat Shlomo, a leading Torah scholar in Poland, who granted him rabbinical ordination at the age of 18. He served as rabbi of Shadik, Poland for a few years, and immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1843 together with his two brothers, R. Asher Lemel Rabbi of Gołyń and R. Yaakov Yehuda Leib, following a dream they all three dreamt separately, instructing them to immigrate to Eretz Israel. In Jerusalem, he would sit for the main part of the day bedecked with Tallit and Tefillin, learning with great diligence. He founded Yeshivat HaRan, where he delivered scholarly lectures to the leading young Torah scholars of Jerusalem. He learnt Kabbalah together with R. Yosef Zundel of Salant from the Kabbalist R. Yehuda HaKohen. He passed away in a Cholera epidemic in 1868 and his epitaph on the Mount of Olives reads: "A holy and pure man, at the age of eight he began searching for G-d and devoted his whole life to Torah, fasts and ascetism. He studied Torah without respite, day and night. He merited to learn and teach, and edified many disciples… A pious and modest man…". This composition was presumably composed whilst learning with his disciples in Yeshivat HaRan, where he taught the tractates Ketubot and Bava Metzia only for approximately ten years. The novella were published based on a manuscript in his book Avnei Kodesh (Jerusalem 1971; Jerusalem 2012). 15 leaves. 21.5 cm. Written on both sides – a total of 29 autograph pages. Thick, dark paper. Fair-good condition. Stains and wear. Detached leaves. Damage to text at the margins.