Bidspirit auction | Highly Rare – Shulchan Aruch

Highly Rare – Shulchan Aruch of the Ari, the Copy of the Great Sages of Baghdad and Jerusalem - Shulchan Aruch of Rabbeinu Yitzchak Luria of blessed memory, corrected and authentic – untouched by foreign hands. Warsaw, 1881. A distinguished and exalted copy that passed through the hands of three of the greatest Sephardic sages of the last generations, in remarkable order of ownership: first Rabbi Ben Zion Mordechai Hazan, devoted disciple and trusted confidant of Maran the Ben Ish Chai; afterward Rabbi Yaakov Chaim Sofer, author of Kaf HaChaim; and finally Maran Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. On the title page appears the handwritten signature and stamp of Rabbi Ben Zion Mordechai Hazan. At the lower portion of the title page appears the stamp of the author of Kaf HaChaim, alongside his handwritten notation: “I am last” — indicating that the book came into his possession after Rabbi Ben Zion Mordechai Hazan. At the upper portion of the title page appears in pencil the inscription: “Library of the Gaon Rabbi Ovadia Yosef” — apparently in the sacred handwriting of Maran Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. Rabbi Ben Zion Mordechai Hazan (1877–1952), Sephardic rabbi of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, founder and director of Yeshivat Porat Yosef and the Shoshanim LeDavid synagogue, was the close disciple, trusted associate, and editor of the works of Maran Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad, author of the Ben Ish Chai. Rabbi Yaakov Chaim Sofer (1870–1939), among the leading sages of Baghdad and Jerusalem, was author of the monumental Kaf HaChaim, one of the foundational halachic works for Sephardic Jewry, integrating halachah, kabbalah, and the customs of Jerusalem. Maran Rabbi Ovadia Yosef (1920–2013), former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel and among the greatest halachic authorities of modern times, author of Yabia Omer, Yechaveh Da’at, Chazon Ovadia, and many other classic works, who restored the crown of Sephardic halachic tradition. Before us is a highly rare copy — a volume that passed in a sacred chain: from the home of the devoted disciple of the Ben Ish Chai, to the author of Kaf HaChaim, and from there to the celebrated library of Maran Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. 56 pages. 22 cm. Condition: Very good. Simple binding.