Israel ben Samuel of Shklov. Pe’ath HaShulchan [agricultural laws of Eretz Israel]

AUCTION 58 | Thursday, May 02nd, 2013 at 1:00

Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts and Autograph Letters

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Lot 181

(ISRAEL, LAND OF).

Israel ben Samuel of Shklov. Pe’ath HaShulchan [agricultural laws of Eretz Israel]

<<FIRST EDITION. THE RABBI YAAKOV YITZCHAK RUDERMAN COPY>> , with his signature, stamps and purchase information on the front flyleaf, dated Slabodka-Kovna 1925. Plus older inscription noting the volume belonged to the Rabbi of Telz. With the rare final leaf of corrections and polemical addenda lacking in most copies. ff. (5), 2-109, (1). Stained in places, title and following leaf taped. Contemporary boards, worn. Folio. Vinograd, Safed 12; Vinograd, Vilna Gaon 1543; Yaari, Safed 11.

Safed: Israel Bak 1836

Est: $700 - $1,000

PRICE REALIZED $950

Discusses the Laws applicable to the Holy Land, based on Maimonides and in particular the rulings of the author’s mentor R. Elijah, the Gaon of Vilna. These are written in a style approximating that of Joseph Karo’s Code, Shulchan Aruch (”Prepared Table”), hence the name Pe’ath HaShulchan (”Corner of the Table”). Introduction describes the massacres by the Druze in the Gallilee. The final leaf contain a vehement retort to a criticism of the Vilna Gaon and states that the critic who writes nonsense, should “toil forty years” to understand the depth of the Gaon’s thought. The author, Rabbi Israel ben Samuel of Shklov (1770-1839), was the leader of the Kollel Perushim, the followers of the Vilna Gaon in Eretz Israel. See JE, Vol VI, p. 669; S. Levi, Rabbi Israel of Shklov, in: Sinai III (1939) pp. 30-37; L. Jung (ed.) Men of the Spirit (1964) pp. 63-81.