Bidspirit auction | Imrei Moshe – responsa on

Imrei Moshe – responsa on profound halachic topics, by Rabbi Moshe Sokolovsky, Rosh Yeshiva in Brisk. Warsaw, 1921. Special copy, with additional leaves printed later - Imrei Moshe – responsa on profound halachic topics, by Rabbi Moshe Sokolovsky, Rosh Yeshiva in Brisk. Warsaw, 1921. Special copy, with additional leaves printed later. Rare special variant. On the title page, the author states that only part of the book was printed – the portion that was ready for press prior to World War I. Due to printing costs, it was cut mid-discussion, and even lacks an introduction. He expresses hope to eventually publish the complete edition with the introduction (a hope unfulfilled in his lifetime). According to the Bibliographic Project, copies printed in Warsaw contain [60] leaves. The present copy includes additional leaves, numbered 67–111, apparently printed afterward in Brisk. See also Judaica Jerusalem Catalog, Sivan 5770, item 97. This edition is rare and known in several variants. The complete edition was published only in 1953, where the editors noted the extreme rarity of the first edition, of which only a few incomplete copies are known to have survived. Rabbi Moshe Sokolovsky [1868–1931], one of the great Lithuanian gedolim, was a disciple of Rabbi Chaim of Brisk. He was appointed Rosh Yeshiva of Torat Chesed in Brisk – a yeshiva founded by Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik – and served there alongside Rabbi Simcha Zelig Riger, the city’s dayan. Though he left no children, Rabbi Moshe raised a generation of outstanding disciples, including Rabbi Moshe Soloveitchik and Rabbi Aharon Leib Steinman. He passed away in 1931 after suffering a stroke during a shiur. Imrei Moshe, printed between the two world wars, was revered in the yeshiva world. Its deep, logically structured insights illuminated the path for countless students. This first edition is extremely rare, likely due to the small number of copies originally printed, as noted by the author himself on the title page. [1], leaves א–נח (partially numbered), סז–קא. 30.5 cm. Very good condition.