Bidspirit auction | Sefer Yesod in Chassidus: Mevaser

Sefer Yesod in Chassidus: Mevaser Tzedek by Rabbi Yissachar Ber of Zlotshov Dubno, 1798. First Edition. * A chassidic commentary on the Torah by Rabbi Yissachar Ber, scion of the house of Tzvi of Zlotshov, primary disciple of the Maggid of Mezeritch and of the Maggid of Zlotshov. This sefer is one of the earliest works of Chassidus, printed only eighteen years after 1780, the first year in which chassidic teachings began to appear in print. Throughout his words, the author brings many chiddushim from the tzaddikim of Chassidus: the Baal Shem Tov, the Maggid of Mezeritch, Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zlotshov and his father, Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobych, his close friend, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk, Rabbi Aharon of Zhitomir, and others. Rabbi Yisrael of Pikov, son of the Kedushas Levi, wrote in his approbation to the Berditchev edition of 1817: “His holy words… burn like torches of fire and arouse the hearts of our brethren, the people of Yisrael, toward their Father in Heaven.”  The sefer was printed from the manuscript of the author’s son-in-law, Rabbi Gershon Margalios of Skalit (later head of the chassidic community in Tzfat), and was reviewed by the author himself before his journey to Eretz Yisrael. At the beginning of the sefer, there is an important introduction by Rabbi Gershon, in which he writes that these chiddushim are almost all that has remained of Rabbi Yissachar Ber’s teachings. Rabbi Yissachar Ber of Zlotshov, the Mevaser Tzedek and Bas Einai (d. 1795) , was one of the great tzaddikim of Chassidus and one of the poskim of his generation, and was a childhood friend of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev. He married the daughter of Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Peretz of Lubartov and was appointed Av Beis Din of Zlotshov, where many gathered around him as talmidim. Among them, the most renowned was the Be’er Mayim Chaim, who attests to a miraculous incident he witnessed when he sought to permit a case of treifah while his rebbi was inclined to forbid it, and in the end, it became clear beyond doubt that the case was indeed treifah. The Be’er Mayim Chaim writes: “I wondered greatly at the sight, and I saw that Hashem does not bring mishap through tzaddikim.” He immigrated to Eretz Yisrael in 1794 and passed away shortly thereafter. His published works are Mevaser Tzedek on the Torah and Bas Einai on halacha and Gemara. Dubno, 1798. First edition. Page Count: [2], 54, [2] leaves. Condition : Good, clean paper; a few holes and stains, several repairs. New binding. Bibliography : Stefansky, Sifrei Chassidus, no. 321.