Shu"t Yad Eliyahu, First Edition. Signed Glosses Written by the 'Ohr Samayach'

Shu"t Yad Eliyahu, First Edition. Signed Glosses Written by the 'Ohr Samayach'

Sefer She'elot U'Teshuvot Yad Eliyahu - Rabbi Eliyahu b"r Shmuel of Lublin. Amsterdam, 1712. First edition. Pedigree copy. Three exceptionally lengthy glosses appear along the leaves of the book, handwritten by the gaon hageonim and wonder-worker Rabbi Meir Simchah HaKohen of Dvinsk. Apparently never printed.

The glosses are, as mentioned, rare in their length, made up of [50-90] words each, and are apparently not printed in the books by the Ohr Samayach. The Ohr Samayach does mention the Yad Eliyahu in his sefarim, but to the best of our knowledge, the glosses here are not mentioned there. Two of the three glosses are signed: "M. S. Cohen" and "Meir Simchah Cohen" (respectively).

In the generation before the Ohr Samayach, this sefer belonged to Rabbi Ya'akov Yehudah Papersha, a dayan in Hamburg and author of the sefer LeShem Zevach (Altona, 1767), who left his signature at the top of the leaf following the title page, a beautiful signature: "LaHashem HaAretz U'Meno'ah, the youth Ya'akov Yehuda Leib son of the great Rabbi ... Chanoch Zundel ztz"l of Papersha."

Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for brief biographies of the author, Rabbi Eliyahu b"r Shmuel of Lublin and the book's first owner, the gaon Rabbi Ya'akov Yehudah Leib Papersha, and the second owner, and the writer of the glosses, Rabbi Meir Simchah HaKohen of Dvinsk.

There is a famous story about Rabbi Meir Simchah [the gaon Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach and many other rabbinic leaders would relate], from the beginning of his tenure as rabbi of Dvinsk, when he was still a young avreich, the Dvina river that runs through the city of Dvinsk overflowed the banks and threatened to flood all the houses in the city. There was no way for the residents to naturally protect themselves, and Christian priests attempted sorcery and prayers on the river, but nothing helped. Much to their dismay, they were forced to call the young Jewish rabbi who had just been appointed, to see if he would succeed when they had not. Rabbi Meir Simchah didn't have much choice, and he responded to their call. When he arrived, he stood at the riverbank and said "I decree to you, minister of the seas, that you return the river to its place." When nothing happened, Rabbi Meir Simchah continued, stating, "If you do not go back to your place, I will ban you with the power of the Torah." And the river returned to its rightful place! On the way home, the gentiles carried him on their shoulders in sheer joy and appreciation, and the story was written in the press and resulted in a kiddush Hashem.

[2], 98 leaf. (There are copies with two leaves added that were printed after the sefer was printed). 32 cm. Especially wide margins.

Fine condition. Aging stains. The white upper margins are slightly cropped. Abrasions in the margins of some of the first leaves. Antique parchment bindings with slight blemishes in the margins.