(LAND OF ISRAEL).

Nissan ben Israel Bak & Grandson

Jerusalem

1876

Aryeh Leib Charif. Sepher Em la-Masoroth*Printed together with Shneur Zalman ben Menachem Mendel [Mendelevich]. * Sepher Zikhron Yerusahalayim. (The first work deals with masoretic issues, i.e. the proper spelling of various words in the Pentateuch. The second work is a travel guide to various cities inside and outside of Eretz Israel, where the author’s feet led him. Includes descriptions of Beirut, Damascus, Aleppo, Baghdad, Bombay, Alexandria, Izmir and Istanbul and the exotic city of—London.)

Halevy, 266

Both books were brought out by Zalman Mendelevich.The first is by Mendelevich’s grandfather, the famous R. Aryeh Leib Charif, author of Kol Aryeh. Zalman Mendelevich was a HaBaD hasid and acted as an emissary on behalf of Kollel HaBaD in Hebron and Jerusalem. His travels took him to Baghdad and Bombay, where he benefited from the munificence of the legendary Sassoon family. As for the gallery of contemporary rabbis mentioned by Mendelevich, the book reads like a Who’s Who in Eretz Israel. Zikhron Yerushalayim, pp. 20b and 23a. See Ya’ari, Sheluhei Eretz Israel (1977), pp. 695-696; Halevy, The First Hebrew Books Printed in Jerusalem (1975), p. 113. Em la-Masoroth is graced by the encomia of many famous rabbis: the Rishon le-Zion, Abraham Ashkenazi; Elijah Mani and Shimon Menashe, respectively Sephardic and HaBaD hasidic rabbis of Hebron; Rabbi Aaron of Chernobyl and his three sons