Marginalia in the Hand of the Gaon Rabbi Eliezer Lazi Heilbut of Berlin. Binyan Ariel. Amsterdam 1778. First ...

Marginalia in the Hand of the Gaon Rabbi Eliezer Lazi Heilbut of Berlin. Binyan Ariel. Amsterdam 1778. First Edition. Classic. Chol Hamoed shaving Polemic.

Sefer Binyan Ariel. By Rabbi Shaul [Lowenstam], Av Beit Din of Amsterdam and grandson of the Chacham Tzvi. Two parts in one volume.

Amsterdam, 1778. First Edition.

Novellae on the Torah portions, the five Meggilot, holidays and pilgrimage festivals, Talmudic novellae and responsa,  

First edition of the Sefer by Rabbi Shaul of Amsterdam - the renowned rabbi of Amsterdam and one of the leading rabbis of his generation. Part II bears a separate title page. The "building" is divided into "apartments" ["בתים"] and "rooms, " the Torah novellae are called "Torah rooms"; those on the festivals are called "Batei Moed" and those on Shas are called "Beit Talmud."

Marginal notations in the Holy hand of the Gaon Rabbi Eliezer Lazi appear of pages 4, 7, 20 in part One, & page 27 in part Two. Association approved by the known Meivin Harav Schmerel Zitronenbaum of NY.

On leaf 30 in Part II, there is a responsum by the author's brother, Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch, Av Beit Din of Berlin, on "whether one may rely on what is found in a recently printed sefer by one of the exceptional leaders of our generation, permitting shaving on Chol HaMoed for a poor laborer ..." He is clearly referring to the Noda BiYehuda's responsum - the author and his brother vehemently disagree as to the ruling, and out of respect for the Noda BiYehuda, he does not mention him by name.

The personal copy of the Gaon Rabbi Eliezer Lazi ben Joseph ben Lazi Heilbut (1740 – 1814) served as a dayan in Posen, then as Rosh Beth Din (Chief Justice) of the AHU (an acronym for the threesome kehilla of Altona, Hamburg, and Wandsbek).

Rabbi Eliezer Lazi Heilbut was born in Berlin in 1740 to his father Rabbi Joseph Heilbut who was the son of the Kabbalist Rabbi Lazi Chosid of Halberstadt, after whom he was named. He had an ailing childhood, but nevertheless was a child prodigy. In his teens he studied in the yeshiva of Rabbi David Tebele Scheuer in Bamberg. He married Beila, the daughter of Tauderes Munk, a respected member of the kehilla in Posen. Then he studied for two years in the yeshiva of Rabbi Gedalia Tiktin, rabbi of Schwersenz close by to Posen, and his father-in-law supported him.

In Posen he taught students, then was appointed as dayan there. At that time Rabbi Raphael Cohen was rabbi of Posen. When Rabbi Raphael Cohen was accepted as Rabbi of the threesome kehilla AHU, Rabbi Eliezer Heilbut followed him there. In 1784 he was appointed as dayan of Wandsbek. In 1799, after Cohen left his position as rabbi of AHU, Heilbut was appointed as chief justice of the kehila. During the Napoleonic Wars, he was the liaison between AHU and Napoleon's general Louis Davout. He died in Hamburg in 1814,  and because of the siege on the city he was buried on the grounds of the synagogue there.

He frequently corresponded with leaders of the generation, including the Chasam Sofer (see: Ishim B’Tshuvos Chasam Sofer, pp. 78).  He authored Mishnas DeRebbi Eliezer (Hebrew: משנת דרבי אליעזר).

Part I: [6] 36; 40 leaves. Part II: [2],   42 leaves. 30.6 Cm.

Very Good Condition, good quality white paper, stains to last few pages, later binding.