Or HaChochmah – Part I – Łaszczów, 1815 – Segulah for Easy Birth

Or HaChochmah – Part I – Łaszczów, 1815 – Segulah for Easy Birth
Or HaChochmah, Chassidic and kabbalistic essays on the Torah, Part I, on Bereshit and Shemot, by the kabbalist R. Uri Feivel of Krisnipoli (Chervonohgrad) and Dubienka. [Łaszczów, Yehuda Leib Rubinstein and Moshe Zicker, 1815]. First edition. With approbations by R. Meir Kristianpoller, R. Efraim Zalman Margolies, the Chozeh of Lublin and others.
This book is considered a segulah for an easy birth. R. Moshe Tzvi Landau of Kleinwardein writes in his work "Shulchan Melachim" on the laws pertaining to birthing mothers: " It has already become a widespread custom to place a book wrapped in cloth beneath the head of the woman in labor, customarily the holy book Noam Elimelech and the holy book Or HaChochmah" (this is quoted in halachic literature). It is also reported that R. Yeshaya Zilberstein of Waitzen would send a copy of Or HaChochmah to women in labor, to place beneath their pillow as a segulah for an easy birth.
The author, the kabbalist R. Uri Feivel of Krisnipoli (Chervonohgrad) and Dubienka (d. between 1804-1808), was a close disciple of R. Kehat of Werish, who was a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov. R. Uri Feivel's son, in his description of his father in the foreword to this book, recalls him as a prolific author who also wrote a composition on the Torah consisting of 15 explanations for each verse, as well as works on the Five Megillot, Tikunei Zohar, Idrot, Sifra DeTzniuta, Sefer Yetzira, "awesome, concealed and impenetrable commentaries", yet all were destroyed in a fire. R. Meir, rabbi of Brody, describes the author in his approbation: "He never departed from the tent of Torah, delving into its revealed and hidden realms, and he feared G-d out of love; most of his knowledge and study pertained to Kabbalah".
[2], 76, 46 leaves. 21 cm. Fair condition. Stains and wear. Open tears and worming with significant damage to text, repaired in part with paper. Leaves trimmed close to text in several places. The first leaves were presumably supplied from a different copy. New cloth binding.
This book was printed in Łaszczów, yet due to censorship constraints, some of the copies, including the present copy, bear a false imprint – Korets, 1795. See Bibliography of the Hebrew Book, listing 0202798.
Stefansky Chassidut, no. 23.