The auction commences with a first edition of the Segulah-book "Raziel HaMalach" (Lot 1); followed by books that were owned by significant rabbis:
R. Shlomo Ganzfried (Lot 5); The Aruch Hashulchan (Lot 6); R. Meir Shapira of Lublin (Lot 68).
The auction contains many excellent offerings of Autograph Letters including:
The first Rebbe of Sadigura, R. Avraham Ya'akov (Lot 13); The Chofetz Chaim (Lots 17-20); The Ohr Same’ach (Lot 41); The Kesav Sofer (Lot 58); Reb Chaim Brisker (Lot 59); The Lubavitcher Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka and her sister (Lots 50-51); and dozens more of such letters.
Autograph manuscripts of note are those from R. Menachem Mendel of Shklov (Lot 9A); The Tiferes Yisroel (Lot 40); and a 14th-century Ramba'n manuscript (Lot 9).
As per annual tradition, this pre-Pesach auction features a wide selection of Passover Hagadot:
The rare, the exotic and the curious; with examples from 1545 through until 2008.
Among particularly Early examples: Lot 87 (Venice, 1545); Lot 88 (Riva di Trento, 1561) and Lot 95 (Salonika, 1569).
Beautifully illustrated Hagadoth include: Lot 93 (Venice, 1740); Lot 85 (India, 1874) and Lot 115 (The Avner Moriah Hagadah).
Historically significant Hagadoth include Lot 72 (American/Canadian/Anglo-related) and many examples from Germany, India, Jerusalem; as well as first edition Hagadah commentaries by the Vilna Gaon (Lot 96), R. Ya'akov Emden (Lot 78); and ending with several facsimile editions.
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LOT 3:
VOLOZHINER, CHAIM. Nephesh HaChaim.
more...
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Sold for: $3,000
Start price:
$
3,000
Estimated price :
$3,000 - $5,000
Buyer's Premium: 25%
sales tax: 8.875%
On the full lot's price and commission
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VOLOZHINER, CHAIM. Nephesh HaChaim.
FIRST EDITION. With an introduction by Rabbi Chaim’s son and successor, R. Itzele of Volozhin. A fine, wide-margined copy.
Vinograd, Vilna 183.
Vilna & Grodno, Partners Mann & Zimmel, 1824.
R. Chaim Volozhin (1749-1821), the principle disciple of the Vilna Gaon, was the widely acknowledged leader of the Mithnagdic Movement following the establishment of his Yeshiva in Volozhin in 1802. R. Chaim’s writings have become deeply influential among the elite, Lithuanian Yeshiva circle of scholars.
Based on complex interpretations of the Zohar and related Kabbalistic texts, the Nefesh HaChaim is the most fundamental tract to outline the Hashkafic weltanschauung of Lithuanian Jewry and its Yeshiva / study-centric approach to Judaism.
Containing an in-depth study of Man and his purpose in this world, alongside his relationship with God and Torah, Nefesh HaChaim was composed in part, as a response to the approach recently promolgated by R. Schneur Zalman of Liadi in his Sepher Tanya (first ed. 1796).
While the Chassidic movement advocated prayer and emotional worship as partners to Torah scholarship in the service of God, R. Chaim Volozhin lays out a system here wherein Torah learning reigns supreme over all other forms of service, with no other act coming even close to its level of importance.
“The Brisker Rav described Nefesh Hachaim as The Shulchan Aruch of Jewish philosophy and faith. It swiftly gained repute as the fundamental source of Hashkafa in the yeshiva world” (Stefansky, Sifrei Yesod).
