Bidspirit auction | Birkat HaZevach. Amsterdam, 1669–1670. First and

Birkat HaZevach. Amsterdam, 1669–1670. First and rare edition. A fine copy - Birkat HaZevach by Rabbi Aharon Shmuel Koidanover (Maharshal K). Amsterdam, 1669–1670. First and rare edition. A fine copy. Birkat HaZevach is an extensive commentary on the Talmud, Rashi, and Tosafot to tractates of the Order of Kodashim, authored by the eminent scholar Rabbi Aharon Shmuel Koidanover, one of the leading Ashkenazic sages of the generation following the Khmelnytsky massacres (1648–1649). The author was a disciple of Rabbi Moshe Lima, author of Chelkat Mechokek, and a teacher of the renowned commentators the Shach and the Taz—one of the most prominent and influential halachic authorities of seventeenth-century Europe. In his introduction, the author movingly recounts his personal suffering during the massacres of 1648–1649—his severe injury and the brutal murder of his two young daughters before his eyes. He describes how, after his miraculous survival, he returned to Torah study and writing “to restore his embittered soul through the wonders of the Torah.” In folios 123–125, the author records Torah insights he heard from Rabbi Yaakov of Tamashov, who was martyred during the same Polish persecutions in the community of Sozmir—an evocative testimony to a turbulent and tragic era. Rabbi Aharon Shmuel ben Yisrael Koidanover (1624–1676) was born in Vilna and studied under Rabbi Heshel of Krakow and his son Rabbi Yaakov of Brisk. Before the massacres, he served as a rabbinic judge and teacher in Poland and Lithuania, in the court of Rabbi Moshe Lima, author of Chelkat Mechokek. After the devastation of 1648–1649, he settled in Ostroh, later serving as rabbi of Rzeszów, Fürth, and Frankfurt am Main, and ultimately as rabbi of Krakow. After his passing, his other works—Emunat Shmuel, Birkat Shmuel, and Tiferet Shmuel on the rulings of the Rosh—were published by his son, Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Koidanover, famed author of Kav HaYashar. His daughter married Rabbi Yonah Nachum Katz, rabbi of Sochaczew and brother of the Shach. The printing of Birkat HaZevach began at the press of Joseph Athias in Amsterdam, one of the most distinguished Hebrew printing houses of the period. From leaf 133 onward, the work was completed at the press of David de Castro Tartas, where the title page and introduction were also printed—both presses belonging to the celebrated families of Amsterdam’s Jewish printers. [2], 180, 35, [1] leaves. 17.5 cm. Hebrew Bibliographic Project, record no. 200985. Very good condition. Minor flaw at the corner of leaf 3 affecting one word only. Fine white paper. Original vellum binding. One of the most important rabbinic works printed in Amsterdam in the seventeenth century—an enduring testament to the spiritual resilience and halachic creativity of Ashkenazic Jewry in the aftermath of the destruction of its communities in Eastern Europe.