Bidspirit auction | Rare Pair of Books –

Rare Pair of Books – The Personal Copies of Maran Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, with His Autograph Signatures - A rare and deeply moving pair of volumes — among the fundamental classics of the Jewish library — being the personal copies used by Maran “Sar HaTorah, ” Rabbi Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim Kanievsky zt”l, for many decades. These are the very books from which the Gadol HaDor studied from his youth until his final days. On the title pages appear his handwritten signatures, “Chaim Kanievsky, ” together with his personal ownership stamp: “Chaim Kanievsky – Bnei Brak.” The books clearly bear the sacred signs of use — worn pages, creases, and soft handling — silent witnesses to the intense daily study of the generation’s foremost Torah giant, whose toil in Torah would have been wondrous even among the sages of earlier generations. On one of the pages of She’elot U’Tshuvot HaTashbatz, the Rabbi wrote in his own hand: “superfluous” (“מיותר”) next to a word enclosed in parentheses. This marginal note indicates that Rabbi Kanievsky personally reviewed and studied the majority of the book’s pages, examining its text with his characteristic precision and diligence. She’elot U’Tshuvot HaTashbatz by Rabbi Shimon ben Tzemach Duran (Rashbatz). Tel Aviv, ca. 1990. Four parts bound together, with five separate title pages (facsimile edition of Lemberg, 1891). On the front flyleaf appears a touching inscription in Maran’s familiar, nostalgic handwriting: “From my books – Chaim Kanievsky.” This fundamental work, containing over 900 halachic responsa, was one of the cornerstones of Rabbi Kanievsky’s daily learning routine. It is cited dozens, even hundreds, of times throughout his writings from the last thirty years of his life — the very period in which this copy was in his personal use. A small library catalog sticker remains affixed to the spine, reading “Book No. 79,” from the private library at 23 Rashbam Street in Bnei Brak — one of thousands of volumes that filled every wall of his legendary home. Sefer Shema’ata D’Rabba by Rabbi Baruch Avraham Mirsky. Volume I. First edition. Jerusalem, 1946. On the front flyleaf appears the same moving inscription in his holy handwriting: “From my books – Chaim Kanievsky, ” together with his sacred personal stamp. This uncommon work was among those that Maran studied, and the volume is filled throughout with traces of his sacred use — a living testament to his unparalleled diligence and depth of Torah study, even in lesser-known works. Rabbi Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim Kanievsky (1928–2022) — universally revered as Gadol HaDor and the spiritual leader of the Lithuanian Torah world in Israel and abroad — was perhaps the last Torah figure whose authority united the entire religious public. He was known for his astounding learning schedule, completing the entire Torah annually: eight pages of Babylonian Talmud daily, with their parallels in the Jerusalem Talmud, and an additional five pages per day of the Tur and Shulchan Aruch. Thousands from around the world would queue daily outside his modest home on Rashbam Street, hoping for a brief word or blessing — often a single syllable, “Bo’u, ” which people believed brought healing and salvation through the power of Torah. Condition: overall good to very good; the binding of Shema’ata D’Rabba is detached. An extraordinary pair of personally used volumes of the Sar HaTorah — bearing his signature, his handwriting, and the visible imprint of a lifetime of unceasing Torah study.