Bidspirit auction | “Yechezkel Landau” – Autograph Manuscript.

“Yechezkel Landau” – Autograph Manuscript. Booklet of Novellae from the Noda BiYehuda. [Prague, circa 18th century]. Unpublished - An Impressive and Rare Manuscript Volume – Unpublished Talmudic Novellae, Homiletic Discourses, and Letters – Attributed to Disciples of Rabbi Yechezkel Landau, Author of Noda BiYehuda. Bohemia, 18th Century A substantial and rare manuscript compilation containing brilliant and previously unknown novellae on several tractates of the Talmud, alongside homiletic discourses and personal letters. Written by several scribes, apparently תלמידים of the great Gaon of his generation, Rabbi Yechezkel Landau, author of Noda BiYehuda. The script is distinctly Ashkenazic, characteristic of Jewish manuscripts produced in the Bohemian region during the 18th century. The manuscript comprises approximately forty pages, the majority devoted to profound Torah novellae and extensive analytical discussions on Talmudic sugyot. These are accompanied by aggadic discourses and letters of greeting. The texts have not yet been studied; however, from the stylistic features, the sharpness of the reasoning, and the breadth of sources cited, it is evident that we are confronted with Torah teachings delivered and recorded by outstanding rabbinic authorities in a generation that produced giants of scholarship. In addition to citations from Tannaim, Amoraim, and leading Rishonim — including Nimukei Yosef and the Ritva — the manuscript also references major halachic decisors, foremost among them the Shulchan Aruch and its principal commentaries. The latest authorities mentioned are Pnei Yehoshua, Machaneh Ephraim, and Ketzot HaChoshen — foundational works printed in the lifetime of the Noda BiYehuda. On folio 10a, a “Kuntres Acharon” is also referenced. On folio 9b, within a moving letter from a yeshiva student to his father, the writer states: “And I have found for myself a wellspring of living waters with the Gaon, the rabbi here.” On folio 2b appears (twice) the signature: “Shmuel Leib, son of the honorable Rabbi David…” On folio 19a, in the margin of one of the novellae and written in the same hand as the main text, appears a stirring inscription or signature: “Yechezkel Landau” — the sacred name of the author of Noda BiYehuda, before whom the greatest sages of his generation stood in awe. It is even related that the Baal Shem Tov, “the Light of the Seven Days, ” remarked concerning this exalted man: “Upon this elevated person stands a third of the world!” [40] pp., bound in a modern binding, approx. 20 × 12 cm. Unevenly trimmed margins. Condition: Good. Age stains. Minor worming. Light marginal tears.