Auction 8 Judaica
Sep 13, 2020
Estreia 978 River Ave Lakewood NJ 08701, United States

The auction has ended

LOT 137:

R. YOSEF ZUNDEL OF SALANT. HISTORIC DISCOVERY. UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS! WITH SIGNATURE OF R. ZUNDEL!

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Sold for: $16,000
Start price:
$ 12,000
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R. YOSEF ZUNDEL OF SALANT. HISTORIC DISCOVERY. UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS! WITH SIGNATURE OF R. ZUNDEL!
Volume of manuscripts, handwritten by the renowned R. Yosef Zundel of Salant. With partially unpublished material. The manuscript includes,
• Novella on Yore Deah (4.5 sides, partially unpublished).
• Transcript of a Torah Correspondence (1.5 sides, published). With signature.
• Novella on Hilchos Melichah. (4 sides, published).
• Kabbalistic Novella (17 sides unpublished).
• “Yesiros V’Chaseiros” according to the Gaon. (20 sides, published)
• Transcript of a letter by the Gaon. (Half a side, published).
R. Yosef Zundel of Salant (1786–1866), was born in Salantai, Lithuania. In his youth he learned in the great Volozhin Yeshiva under R. Chaim Volozhiner. Following R. Chaim’s passing in 1821, he travelled to learn under R. Akiva Eiger. Although he was famous as a prodigious Talmid Chochom, he refused to accept a rabbinical position, instead supporting himself by running a small business. He spent most of his time involved in Torah and Mussar and provided the spiritual inspiration for his most famous student, R. Yisroel Salanter, founder of the Mussar movement. As a follower of the Vilna Gaon, R. Zundel longed to settle in Eretz Yisroel. Despite the enormous hardships involved in such an undertaking, in 1839 he moved to Yerusholayim. The small Ashkenazic community in Yerusholayim at that time was under the leadership and financial support of the Kollel Vilna, whose headquarters were in Amsterdam with a committee headed by the distinguished Dutch Jewish banker, R. Avrahom Tzvi Hirsch Lehren (1784–1853).
Although R. Zundel was an extremely unpretentious individual, R. Lehren was keenly aware of his greatness and had tremendous respect for him. R. Lehren prevailed upon R. Zundel to found a Beis Din for the Ashkenazim, who up until then were entirely dependent on the established Sephardic Rabbinate. R. Zundel agreed on the condition that he would not be paid a salary. He also stipulated that as soon as he could find a suitable replacement, he would resign this position. In 1841, when his son-in-law R. Shmuel Salant arrived in Yerusholayim, R. Zundel asked him to join the Beis Din. Not long afterwards, R. Zundel appointed R. Shmuel Salant as Rosh Beis Din, a position that R. Shmuel held for almost seventy years until his death in 1909.
R. Yisroel Salanter, the founder of Mussar movement and prime student of R. Zundel, is recorded as having said: “I have not known a true servant of G-d like my mentor R. Zundel!”
16 cm. Excellent condition. Original binding. With many additional blank pages.
Opening bid $12,000
 

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