Bidspirit auction | Amudei Shesh by the Kli

Amudei Shesh by the Kli Yakar, First Edition – Prague, 1617 * A lengthy and beautiful discourse on matters of mussar, authored by the “father of darshanim, ” the gaon Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim Luntshitz of Prague, known by his commentary Kli Yakar, a Torah giant in Ashkenaz in the generation of the Maharal of Prague and the Shelah HaKadosh. The drush is founded upon the six “pillars” upon which the world stands and endures: Torah, avodah, and acts of kindness; justice, truth, and peace. In the sefer, the Kli Yakar rebukes the people of his generation regarding various spiritual failings. The Kli Yakar composed this sefer in 1607 while fleeing to a small town near Prague due to an epidemic raging at the time. While there, he was freed from the burdens of his communal responsibilities and could devote himself to compiling this drush. The sefarim of the Kli Yakar became classics of drasha literature, and his delightful insights have been cited extensively by generations of darshanim. This was the final sefer printed by the Kli Yakar during his lifetime; he passed away the following year, on the 7th of Adar, 1619. A rare sefer. For many years, the National Library of Israel possessed only an incomplete copy (a complete copy arrived there recently from the Valmadonna collection). The author of Kli Yakar, Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim Luntshitz, Av Beis Din of Prague (d. 1619) , was a disciple of the Maharshal and one of the greatest darshanim. His work, Kli Yakar, is one of the most important Torah commentaries of all generations and earned extraordinary acclaim, to the extent that, in an unprecedented move, the rabbanim of the Vaad Arba Aratzos decided to finance its printing to distribute it to all Jewish homes! One of the sages serving on his Beis Din in Prague was the Shelah HaKadosh. The structure of the present sefer later served as the model for the sefer Vavei HaAmudim by the author’s disciple, Rabbi Sheftel Horowitz, son of the Shelah HaKadosh, as stated at the end of his introduction. Prague, 1617. First edition. Page Count: 40 leaves. Size: Tall format. Condition: Good, pencil markings on some leaves. New binding. - - - - - - - - - - The present sefer is the source of one of the Kli Yakar’s most famous teachings in mussar, cited numerous times by poskim and ba’alei mussar: “Since prayer is alluded to with the expression of a burning fire and is compared to the Korban Tamid, prayer therefore requires all the conditions of a korban. The burning fire corresponding to prayer, which is the intention of the heart, is considered as though a fire burns within him…”