TCHERNOVITZ, CHAIM. Sha’ar ha-Tephilah [Gate of Prayer: Chassidic discourses on prayer]

(CHASSIDISM)

Eliezer ben Mordechai Bilitz for Tzvi Ze’ev ben David Rabinstein

Mohilev on the Dniester (Sudylkow)

(1825)

FIRST EDITION

Vinograd, Mohilev on the Dniester 29; Sudylkow 94

The author is most famous for his magnum opus, Be’er Mayim Chayim on the Pentateuch, a classic of Chassidic thought to this day. Sha’ar ha-Tephilah is graced by the Haskamah or endorsement of R. Ephraim of Sudylkow, grandson of R. Israel Ba’al Shem Tov, founder of the modern Chassidic movement. The present copy with the well-known She’elah u-Teshuvah [halachic responsum] wherein the author debates the earlier responsum of R. Ezekiel Landau of Prague (Noda bi-Yehudah, Yoreh De’ah, no. 93) concerning the degree or form of intentionality required by law in prayer (ff.3-10). This responsum is lacking in many copies (including the copy consulted by Vinograd)