Bidspirit auction | Sefer “HaMikneh”, laws of acquisitions

Sefer “HaMikneh”, laws of acquisitions and principles, three parts in one volume, by the Gaon Rabbi Eliezer Zusman Sofer, Av Beit Din of Paks, Pressburg/Paks 1877/1884 – first edition, copy of R. Aharon David Hartstein of Khust - Sefer “HaMikneh”, Principles in the laws of acquisition, Three parts in one volume, By the Gaon Rabbi Eliezer Zusman Sofer, Av Beit Din of Paks, With the author’s stamp behind the title page of Part II Copy of the chavruta of the holy Gaon Rabbi Shaul Brach! Pressburg/Paks 1877/1884 – first edition Rabbi Eliezer Zusman Sofer (6 Adar 1828 – 9 Tishrei 1903) was among the eminent rabbis of Orthodox Jewry in Hungary. He served in the rabbinate of Halas and Paks. He was rosh yeshivah to thousands of students and a prolific author. He was born in Pressburg to Rabbi Mordechai Ephraim Fishel Sofer and Leah, on 6 Adar 1828. At the age of eleven he participated in the lessons of the Chatam Sofer. After his passing he learned with his son the Ktav Sofer for about twelve years, except for one year in which he learned with the Maharam Schick in Yargen. Although he was born to the Hungarian non-chassidic tradition, he sought the presence of the Divrei Chaim of Sanz already in his youth. It is told that once on Shabbat the Rebbe of Sanz placed his old shtreimel upon the head of Rabbi Eliezer Zusman, and from then on he wore that shtreimel every Shabbat. He also traveled to his son Rabbi Yechezkel Shraga Halberstam of Shinova. Owners: Stamp: Tzvi HaLevi Weinfeld – Kashitze [Kashau in Slovakia]. On the title page of Part I an inscription: “With the help of Heaven, Khust, the eve of Thursday, the portion Lech Lecha – Vehyei Berachah, the year 243, I gave… as a complete gift to the sharp and fluent scholar our teacher Aharon David Hartstein of here the holy community of Khust. Thus I attest on the above date, David HaKohen of Khust.” Nearby he added his signature: ”David Kahn” in Latin letters. On the title page of Part II an inscription: “With God’s help, as a memorial, that I gave as a derashah-gift to the important rabbi Aharon David, I … Moshe …” Rabbi Aharon David Hartstein was born in Khust, where he learned in the yeshivah of the Maharam Schick, and was among the outstanding students whom the Maharam Schick appointed to learn with brilliant younger students. One of those younger students was the holy Gaon Rabbi Shaul Brach, who upon entering the yeshivah was instructed by the rosh yeshivah to learn with the exceptional student Aharon David Hartstein. Later Rabbi Shaul Brach related that he was childish then, and protested to his teacher that he had no need for an older student to teach him. But the Maharam Schick did not yield to him, explaining that he wished him to absorb from that student his style of learning, “and this will benefit you for your entire life”! Nevertheless the prodigious youth stubbornly refused, until his father wrote him and commanded him to heed his teacher’s voice. And the holy Gaon Rabbi Shaul Brach concluded: “My good companion R. Aharon David Hartstein learned with me, and as my teacher said, he truly gave me my way of learning for life”! (According to Shaul Bechir Hashem) In later years Rabbi Shaul Brach printed the book “Taryag Mitzvot” of his teacher the Maharam Schick, and appended to it the Maharam Schick’s notes to Sefer HaChinukh, noting in his introduction that he had received them from “the sharp and expert rabbi our teacher Aharon David Hartstein, resident of the holy community of Bartfeld, disciple of our master the author”. Rabbi Aharon David was the son-in-law of Rabbi Moshe HaLevi Zalmanovitz of Bardejov, who himself was the son-in-law of Rabbi Chaim Avraham Arnshtain, Av Beit Din of Bardejov, author of Divrei Avraham (see item 23), disciple of Rabbeinu the Chatam Sofer, and he is mentioned in the introduction of the grandson who published Divrei Avraham. Torah novellae of his are scattered in the Torah journal “HaChayim”, published in Ungvar by Rabbi Yitzchak Stief. R. David Kahn of Khust gave advance payment for the printing of Chamudei Daniel in Veitzen 1908. He is mentioned there as a young man learning in the Makova yeshivah.