Bidspirit auction | Sefer Sha‘ar ha-Pesuqim with Sefer

Sefer Sha‘ar ha-Pesuqim with Sefer ha-Liqquṭin, Jerusalem — the press of Yisrael Bak. 1863. - Sha‘ar ha-Pesuqim, hidden discourses and mysteries of Torah on all of Scripture, composed by our teacher the holy Rabbi Ḥayyim Vital, as received from the divine Tanna… the Ari… and this is the fourth gate of the eight known gates… arranged and copied by his son, our teacher Rabbi Shmuel Vital… and until this very day had not ascended the altar of print… found in the study hall of our master and teacher… Sar Shalom Mizraḥi Ḥadidya Sharabi… The prince and officer, our teacher Rabbi Nissim Shama‘ma, poured forth gold from his purse to print it here…, and with good remembrance be it mentioned… our teacher Rabbi Shalom Moshe Ḥai Gagin, descendant of Sar Shalom, of blessed memory, who brought it to light from his study hall. Jerusalem — the press of Yisrael Bak. 1863. Sefer ha-Liqquṭin has a separate title on the same page. The Printing House of Rabbi Yisrael Bak: R. Yisrael Bak was among the first Hebrew printers in the Land of Israel, and the first to establish a printing press in Jerusalem. He viewed his work as sacred, referring to his press as a “printing altar.” In the introduction to his early works he wrote: “I printed them in holiness and purity, for the letters I created were fashioned with the wisdom granted to me by God.” In his later years he wrote: “I do not speak to glorify my own deeds, for it is He Who gives me strength to accomplish. My printing house is holy, for all the letters and all the instruments required are fashioned by my own hand. Nowhere in my press will you find even a single letter made by another, and certainly none made by gentiles, for the letters are sacred. One must intend properly during their creation, for with them the heavens and earth were fashioned, though I, in my own limited understanding, cannot fathom their true intention. Still, my intention is to follow the intention of Bezalel, who knew how to combine the letters through which the heavens and earth were created.” It is no wonder that the Kabbalists of the yeshivah Beit El were careful to use the books printed by R. Yisrael Bak. R. Yisrael Bak (1797–1875): Born in Berdichev, he was a disciple of Rabbi Levi Yitzḥak of Berdichev and Rabbi Yisrael of Ruzhin. Family tradition held that they were descendants of the great printers of Livorno and Prague. From youth he was a master craftsman, specializing in casting Hebrew type. In 1815 he opened his first printing house in Berdichev, where he printed twenty-six books, among them Kedushat Levi by Rabbi Yitzḥak Levi of Berdichev. He also cast the metal type used in the illustrious Slavuta Press. After immigrating to the Land of Israel around 1831, he settled in Safed and established a printing press there. It operated until the devastating earthquake of 1837, which destroyed the city. In 1841 he established his Jerusalem printing house, the first Hebrew press in Jerusalem and the only one in the city until the mid-1860’s. As a deeply committed ḥasid devoted to his Rebbes, especially Rabbi Yisrael of Ruzhin, he worked tirelessly to strengthen the ḥasidic community of the Old Yishuv in Jerusalem, expanding the Kollel Valin (the ḥasidic kollel). In his later years he transferred his great enterprise to his son R. Nissan and built a study hall in his courtyard, where he would learn daily. The last book he printed appeared in 1875.