Bidspirit auction | Aggados Rabbah bar bar Chanah.

Aggados Rabbah bar bar Chanah. Rafduni B’Tapuchim – Berlin, 1712 * A unique sefer containing a homiletic and kabbalistic commentary on the well-known Aggados of Rabbah bar bar Chanah, regarded as the most extraordinary Aggados in the Talmud, together with additional Aggados Chazal. It was authored by Rabbi Eliakim Goetz, Av Beis Din of Hildesheim. In his introduction, the author writes that the purpose of writing the sefer was to reveal the depth and hidden secrets contained within the words of Chazal, in response to “the masses who mock the words of our Sages, saying that it is impossible to believe the tales related therein and that they are mere nonsense.” Rabbi Eliakim Goetz (c. 1643–1705) , Av Beis Din of Hildesheim and author of Shu”t Even HaShoham, was a disciple of the Avodas HaGershuni and one of the leading sages of his generation. He corresponded in halacha with the geonim Rabbi Avraham Broda, the Chacham Tzvi, and Rabbi Dovid Oppenheim, who greatly praised him in his eloquent approbation to the sefer. Among his descendants was the holy Admor Rabbi Yeshayah of Peshdvorzh. A special biographical work about him was written by R. F. Z. Glicksman under the title Rabbeinu Eliakim Goetz (Lodz, 1936). Berlin, 1712. First edition. Page Count: 30 leaves. Fine title page with woodcut decorations. - - - - - - - - - - - Copy from the library of one of the distinguished figures of the House of Ruzhin, the Admor Rabbi Nochum Bernev Friedman of Sadigura (1843–1883) , son of Rabbi Shalom Yosef of Ruzhin, son of Rabbi Yisrael of Ruzhin, and son-in-law of his uncle Rabbi Avraham Yaakov of Sadigura. The sefer bears all the identifying marks of his unique and magnificent library: it is bound in the original binding known from his collection, with his handwritten signature, his red-and-gold bookplate, and on the title page his royal seal depicting a crouching lion, together with the stamp “Minchas Shai, ” which he used on sefarim received as gifts from chassidim.