Bidspirit auction | Sefer HaZohar – Volume I.

Sefer HaZohar – Volume I. Amsterdam, 1805 [תק״ה]. The Copy of Rabbi Ezriel Hildesheimer - A Unique Copy of Sefer HaZohar, Volume I. Amsterdam, 1805 [תק״ה]. With the Original Signature and Stamp of Rabbi Ezriel Hildesheimer A remarkable and unique copy of Sefer HaZohar, Volume I, printed in Amsterdam in 1805 [תק״ה], bearing on the title page the original autograph signature and ownership stamp of Rabbi Ezriel Hildesheimer, from the period of his tenure as Rabbi of Eisenstadt. This feature is of exceptional interest, as Rabbi Hildesheimer was not known to have studied or collected Kabbalistic literature. The presence of his personal ownership marks in a Zohar volume therefore reveals an unusually broad spiritual horizon and a rare intellectual openness among the leading Ashkenazic rabbis of his generation. Rabbi Ezriel Hildesheimer (1820–1899) was Chief Rabbi of Berlin and one of the foremost leaders of Orthodox Jewry in 19th-century Europe. A disciple of Rabbi Yaakov Ettlinger (Aruch LaNer), he served as Rabbi of Eisenstadt, later becoming Rabbi of the Adas Yisroel congregation in Berlin, and the founder of the Berlin Rabbinical Seminary, which became a cornerstone of Orthodox Torah scholarship in Germany. He was renowned for his uncompromising defense of traditional Judaism against the reform movement and for his wide-ranging public activity on behalf of the settlement of the Land of Israel, raising funds and establishing institutions of Torah, education, and charity. He authored numerous halachic and Talmudic works, including She’elot u-Teshuvot Rabbi Ezriel (two volumes) and Chiddushei Rabbi Ezriel on the Talmud (three volumes). Bibliographic details: [3], 251, 19 leaves. Size: 22 cm. Condition: Very good; the pages are clean and well-preserved. The original binding is present but detached. A fascinating and rare copy, bearing the personal mark of one of the great rabbinic leaders of 19th-century Germany — a striking testament to the unexpected intersection between the Ashkenazic halachic world and the mystical literature of the Zohar.