Bidspirit auction | Surprising Letter from the Ridbaz

Surprising Letter from the Ridbaz Regarding the Printing of His Edition of Pe’as HaShulchan – Tzfas, 1911 * A handwritten and autographed letter by the brilliant gaon Rabbi Yaakov Dovid Wilovsky of Slutsk, known as the Ridbaz, formerly Rav of Chicago and, in his later years, one of the leading rabbanim of Eretz Yisrael. At that time, the Ridbaz wished to begin printing his edition of Pe’as HaShulchan by Rabbi Yisrael of Shklov, together with his own foundational commentary, Shulchan Aruch for Shabbos, which indeed appeared the following year, in 1912. This work became a veritable “Shulchan Aruch” and a sefer yesod for all those engaged in the halachos of Eretz Yisrael. Concurrently, during that same period, the scholar A.M. Luntz was involved in printing another edition of Pe’as HaShulchan, which contained little innovation beyond a small number of glosses by the Aderet and Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, Av Beis Din of Jaffa. In the month of Adar 1911, he completed printing the first part of Pe’as HaShulchan and began preparations to print the second part. The Ridbaz was aware that purchasers would prefer his own edition over that of Luntz. Therefore, in remarkable generosity of spirit, he proposes in the present letter that they cooperate in printing the Ridbaz’s edition! The Ridbaz, Rabbi Yaakov Dovid Wilovsky (1845–1914) , was one of the famous gedolim of Lithuania and Av Beis Din of Slutsk and other communities. In 1903, he traveled to Chicago to serve as Rav there, but when he sought to institute enactments to strengthen religious observance, he encountered fierce opposition and resolved to leave for Eretz Yisrael. There, he served as Rosh Yeshiva of a yeshiva in Tzfas until his passing. He was deeply involved in the halachos of Eretz Yisrael and stood at the forefront of the famous Shemittah controversy of 1910. His commentary on Pe’as HaShulchan, mentioned in the present letter, was composed as part of that very polemic. Tzfas, 1911 . Approximately sixteen lines in the handwriting and with the signature of the Ridbaz, written on an official postcard of “Yeshivas Eretz Yisrael” in Tzfas, under the leadership of the Ridbaz. Size : 10.5 × 15.2 cm. Condition : Tear at the top of the postcard and two filing holes. ------------------------- ~ The Final Outcome of The Two Editions ~ In practice, the partnership between the Ridbaz and A.M. Luntz was never concluded. The Ridbaz’s edition was printed at the Frumkin printing press in 1912, while at the same time, the second part of Luntz’s edition was printed at the Luntz press, also in 1912. We do not know the precise reason the partnership was not finalized, but from the details we have pieced together, we can surmise the reason: Luntz had already begun collecting subscriber signatures for the printing of the sefer as early as 1901, publicizing this in the local press. In the following year, 1902, he had already distributed several booklets from the work, each with a title page. The passing of the Aderet in 1905 likely weakened his resolve to continue the project, since the Aderet’s glosses were the principal novelty and addition of his edition. Nevertheless, he continued the work, presumably because he was obligated to his subscribers. Only about a decade after beginning the project did he succeed in completing it, around the summer of 1912. In advertisements published after the printing was finished, he notes that he printed only a small number of copies, suggesting that he produced scarcely more than the number required to fulfill his commitments to subscribers. ------------------------------ ~ Handwritten Glosses of the Vilna Gaon on Yerushalmi Zeraim in the Possession of the Ridbaz ~ In the letter, the Ridbaz mentions his well-known view that many of the glosses on the Yerushalmi attributed to the Vilna Gaon — among others by Rabbi Yisrael of Shklov in Pe’as HaShulchan — are not in fact from the Vilna Gaon. The Ridbaz possessed the Yerushalmi with the Vilna Gaon’s glosses in an actual autograph manuscript, and he refers to them in his writings. He writes to Luntz in the present letter: “And I know that this will cause you great anguish [that is, after the Ridbaz prints his edition without partnership], for all your assumptions [of Luntz] that Pe’as HaShulchan, of blessed memory, brings variant readings and explanations from the Vilna Gaon, of blessed memory — will collapse upon you, since in your view they are truly from the Vilna Gaon, of blessed memory. And when my work is printed, with the help of Heaven, the truth will be revealed [that some of the glosses attributed to the Vilna Gaon in Pe’as HaShulchan are not from the Vilna Gaon], and surely resentment will arise between us…”