Bidspirit auction | A Discovery Inside the Binding!

A Discovery Inside the Binding! Rare Surviving Fragment from the Concealed Edition of Leket HaKemach by Rabbi Moshe Chagiz!! * Sefer Leket Shmuel, Venice, 1694. First edition. This is a collection of Torah discourses and teachings by Rabbi Shmuel Feivish Kahana, a descendant of the Sm”a and an exile from Vienna. This is a rare sefer. This sefer is bound in its original binding, and there is a true historical treasure hidden within! Serving as flyleaves, two printed folios have been repurposed - each containing the title page and leaf 4 from the first, concealed edition of Leket HaKemach by the zealous Jerusalemite, Rabbi Moshe Chagiz! These leaves are the almost the only surviving remnants from the concealed Venice edition of Leket HaKemach! The Story Behind the Sefer The author, Rabbi Moshe Chagiz, known as the ”Meniach”, arrived in Venice in 1703. He was 22 years old at the time (!!). In the following year – 1704 - he printed two works authored by his father and grandfather: Hilchos Ketanos by Rabbi Yisrael Yaakov Chagiz - and Korban Chagigah by Rabbi Moshe Galante. He initially refrained from printing his own sefer Leket HaKemach, which contains many halachic sources. However, he was eventually persuaded to do so and also began printing it in Venice in 1704 – along with the other two works by his father and grandfather. Due to financial hardship and other mysterious reasons that are not clear, the Meniach concealed the Venice edition entirely, and today, only a single large printed sheet is known to remain, containing the first four leaves. Presented here are two of those leaves - the title page and leaf 4 - found both at the beginning and end of the present volume. The complete sefer was printed by the author only three years later, in 1707, in Amsterdam, in a smaller format (whereas the present leaves are of medium size), with additions and revisions. In the introduction to the Amsterdam edition, the author makes veiled mention of the Venice printing, recounting how scholars from Ashkenaz asked him, “Why did you begin printing the sefer and then leave it unfinished?” He then subtle allusions to the difficulties he faced. The Amsterdam edition was made possible through the support of the famed Rabbi David Oppenheim - later Av Beis Din of Prague - who obtained the necessary funds for its publication. Until now, bibliographic sources had knowledge of only one surviving copy of the title page, located in the Meir Benayahu Library (and likewise bound at the beginning of Leket Shmuel!) The Bibliography Project and Winograd cataloged the edition based on that leaf. Before us is the second known copy in the world from this extraordinarily rare edition!! Authored by one of the most renowned Torah giants from three hundred years ago, we present you with an exceptionally unique opportunity. You can purchase the extremely rare edition of a sefer authored by one of the tzadikim whose fierce battles against remnants of Sabbateanism shook the Jewish world. Description of the present volume: Sefer Leket Shmuel, Venice 1694, with [64] leaves. This contains teachings arranged by alef-beis and discourses on the Torah. A rare sefer. Bound at the beginning and end are two printed folios, each bearing the title page and leaf 4 of the concealed Venice edition of Leket HaKemach. Size: Sefer itself: 32 cm. Maximum size of Leket HaKemach folios: approx. 26 × 32 cm. Condition of the folios: Fair–good; tears along the fold of the binding. Condition of the sefer: Good–fair, with light stains and holes. Original binding, worn. For further information about the concealed Venice edition, see: M. Benayahu, Books Authored by Rabbi Moshe Chagiz and Books He Published, in Ali Sefer, Vol. 2, pp. 124–130; S. Kornblit, An Unknown Introduction to the Concealed Edition of Leket HaKemach, in Ali Sefer, Vol. 9, pp. 115–129.