Bidspirit auction | Chesed Shmo Kel – sole

Chesed Shmo Kel – sole and exceptionally rare edition – chilling firsthand testimony regarding the decrees of Tach–Tat and the 1650s pogroms in Poland. Amsterdam, 1699 [תנ”ט]. - Sefer Chesed Shmo Kel – commentary on the parshiyos of Sefer Bereishis by way of pshat, remez, drush and sod, by Rabbi Shmuel ben Rabbi Dovid Auerbach of Lublin. An exceptionally rare work of special historical importance. The author, who personally experienced the massacres of Tach–Tat and the decrees of the 1650s in Poland, incorporates in both the introduction and conclusion of his work rare firsthand testimony regarding the bloodshed, killings, and destruction he witnessed. In his introduction, the author recounts how he was miraculously saved from the decrees in Lublin in the year 1657, during which “many thousands of souls, alas, fell al kiddush Hashem, ” and describes an additional rescue from a massacre in which Rabbi Yechezkel Katz of Pinczow was killed beside him. At the conclusion of the book appears a harrowing account of the tortures and murders endured by the Jewish communities of the region of Reisin and Poland during the years Tach–Tat and the subsequent decrees. The author describes the self-sacrifice of the martyrs and concludes with moving words: “And I concluded my book with these matters so that whoever reads it will think in his heart that if this mitzvah should come into his hands, he should give his life for it...” Amsterdam, press of Moshe Mindis Kuitinio, 1699 [תנ”ט]. Sole edition. Beyond its Torah value, the book constitutes a rare and important firsthand historical document for the history of the Tach–Tat decrees and the persecutions that followed. Inscriptions on the endpaper. [1], 43 leaves. 18 cm. Condition: old binding. Wear to spine. Age stains and minor wear. Partial separation of the book's body from the spine. Trimming of the leaves affected the headings on several pages. Fair to good condition.