Bidspirit auction | The Tikkunei Zohar of the

The Tikkunei Zohar of the famous Admor Rabbi Menachem Mendel Halberstam, Av Beit Din of Stropkov, grandson of the holy Rabbi of Shinova - Sefer Tikkunei Zohar, composed by the divine Tanna Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. The entire composition is in a single large volume. A magnificent pocket edition, with its original leather binding, gilt-stamped. Yosefov, 1870. The personal copy of the Admor, the miracle worker, the holy Rabbi Menachem Mendel Halberstam of Bobov, author of Divrei Menachem, eldest son and successor of Rabbi Shalom of Stropkov, son of the holy Gaon, the Divrei Yechezkel of Shinova. At the top of the title page appears the full handwritten signature of the Rebbe: “Belongs to the holy Menachem Mendel Halberstam Stropkov.” On leaf 32a, in the introduction to the Tikkunim, appears a one-word handwritten gloss. After the passing of his mother, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Stropkov was raised in the home of his grandfather, the Divrei Yechezkel of Shinova, who raised him as a son. The copy before us was printed decades before the Divrei Yechezkel's passing. The righteous tzaddikim of Chassidut had the custom to study and complete Tikkunei Zohar during the forty days from the eve of Rosh Chodesh Elul until Yom Kippur. Also in this copy, which belonged to one of the great tzaddikim of the Sanzer dynasty, there is a division according to the days of the month, along with an introduction and a prayer recited before beginning the reading in Elul. On the opening and closing guard leaves appear numerous notations, signatures, and ownership stamps of the descendants of the holy Rabbi of Stropkov, headed by the handwritten signature of his son, the holy Rabbi “Avraham Naftali Halberstam of Stropkov, may he live, ” rabbinical judge and decisor in Satmar, who perished in the Holocaust at the hands of the accursed Nazis. This sacred copy before us was zealously preserved by the Rebbe’s heirs, befitting its great value, and is in excellent condition. Yet on each and every page are evident the signs of study and handling by the holy Rebbe. 104 leaves. Approximately 10 cm. A beautiful miniature edition, in its original splendid leather binding. Very good–fine condition. The Admor Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Stropkov – [1875–1954], eldest son of the holy Rabbi Shalom of Stropkov, son of the Gaon Rabbi Yechezkel Shraga of Shinova, author of Divrei Yechezkel, who served as his sandak. In his youth, after the passing of his mother, he was raised in the home of his holy grandfather in Shinova. When he was 12 years old, his grandfather said to him: ”It’s almost Passover, and I haven’t yet completed a tractate.” The boy immediately replied: ”Grandfather, I will learn a tractate and make a siyum!” That night, the child sat and studied with tremendous diligence. In the morning, he approached his grandfather and declared he was finishing the tractate—one of the major ones in Shas. His grandfather, the Divrei Yechezkel, immediately tested him in depth, through the sugya, in Gemara, Rashi, and Tosafot, and was astounded by his sharpness and immense knowledge. He told the Rebbetzin to prepare a feast, saying: “This time, we truly have a siyum.” He was known as a miracle worker and a bringer of salvations. During the Holocaust, he fled to Budapest, where he hid together with the holy Rabbi Aharon of Belz, who even gave him a kvittel, and from there he escaped to Switzerland. It is told that during the Holocaust he arrived at a bunker in Budapest and the people there were afraid to let him in until he gave them a written promise that everyone in the bunker would be saved – and so it was. His chassid, the philanthropist Rabbi Yisrael Zupnik, recounts in the introduction to Divrei Menachem stories of miracles he performed before and after the Holocaust. After the war, he emigrated to the United States, and from across the country people streamed to him to be blessed for salvation and mercy. He served as the sandak for the Admor Rabbi Aharon of Satmar, may he live, and for the Admor of Sanz, may he live; and he also officiated as mesader kiddushin at the wedding of the Admor of Bobov. Tens of thousands attended his funeral in the United States. At the head of the procession walked the Admor of Satmar, the Divrei Yoel of blessed memory, who accompanied the bier to the airplane on its way to the Land of Israel. As they loaded the bier onto the plane, he wept and declared: “The last man who knew how to properly write a kvittel is no more.” The holy Gaon Rabbi Avraham Naftali Halberstam, son of the Admor Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Stropkov and son-in-law of Rabbi Chaim Halberstam of Satmar. He served as a rabbinical judge and halachic decisor in Satmar, and was killed in the Holocaust. See: Wunder, Galicia II, p. 409.