Auction 115 Seforim, Letters from Rabbis and Rebbes, Chabad, Manuscripts, Art from Israel, Important historic documents
Jul 24, 2019
Israel
 3 Shatner Center 1st Floor Givat Shaul Jerusalem
The auction has ended

LOT 32:

HaOrev, Battle over the Leadership of Prague Jewry. Especially Rare Polemic Book

catalog
  Previous item
Next item 
Sold for: $650
Start price:
$ 500
Estimated price:
$600-$800
Auction house commission: 22%
VAT: 17% On commission only
Users from foreign countries may be exempted from tax payments, according to the relevant tax regulations
tags:

HaOrev, Battle over the Leadership of Prague Jewry. Especially Rare Polemic Book
HaOrev - controversy about the Prague rabbinate after the passing of the gaon Rabbi Yechezkel Landau, author of Noda BiYehudah. Salonika, [Vienna?] 1795. Only edition. Rare book.
After Rabbi Yechezkel Landau's almost 40 year service as rabbi of Prague, a dispute erupted about the leadership of Prague between the Noda BiYehuda's son, Rabbi Shmuel, who had already begun to serve as adjudicator and assistant to his aging father, and two adjudicators in Prague, Rabbi Michael Bachrach and Rabbi Ya'akov Ginzberg, who acted independently.
The book before us, which was published anonymously, brings letters and claims from both sides. The letters are called "Plugta D'Shmuel" and "Tiyuvta D'Shmuel." The author used the pen name "Pinchas Chananyah Argozi." There are a number of hypotheses with regard to the author's identity. There are those who wrote that he was Rabbi Shaul Hirschel Levin (Berlin). However, the author was apparently actually Rabbi Baruch Yaltash of Prague, author of Taam HaMelech on the Ramba"m's Sha'ar HaMelech, which hints at his being the author. Also, the place of print indicated on the title page - Salonika - is incorrect, and the book was apparently printed in Vienna. The compilation "Kivrot HaTa'avah" is printed on the last three leaves - a public notification by Rabbi Shmuel Landau that he does not want to be published in the book HaMeasef.
There is an interesting halachic deliberation on the first leaves about early Jewish coins - whether they had impressions of people on them, including the expert opinion of a gentile who wrote his view in French.
20 leaves, 19.5 cm. Very fine condition. Isolated again stains. Cropped bottom margins. New binding.

catalog
  Previous item
Next item