Dov Baer ben Shneur Zalman, of Lubavitch. Sha’ar ha-Teshuvah ve-ha-Tephilah [“Gate of Repentance and Prayer”]. Part II

(CHASSIDISM).

Isaac ben Samuel

Shklov

1818

FIRST EDITION. Title within typographic border. First word within historiated background. On f.2v Tsarist stamp and Censor's signature from 1837

Vinograd, Sklow 198; Ch. Liberman, Ohel Roche”l, vol. I, p. 190, no. 143; Habermann, Sha'arei Chabad (in Alei Ayin, S.Z. Schocken Festschrift), no. 271

FIRST EDITION OF A CLASSIC OF CHABAD. R. Dov Baer inherited the mantle of leadership from his father, the founder of the Chabad school of Chasidism, R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi. Fondly remembered by the chasidim as the “Mitteler Rebbe” (Middle Rabbi), it was R. Dov-Baer who established the center of Chabad in the town of Lubavitch, home of his father-in-law. In works such as Sha’ar ha-Teshuvah, R. Dov Baer proved his mastery of the esoteric doctrine of Chabad mysticism. The work may be viewed as an expansion upon his father’s Igereth ha-Teshuvah (Epistle of Repentance), published as the third part of Tanya. The late Chabad bibliographer, Chaim Liberman describes typographical variants. Our copy with the correct heading “Sha’ar ha-Teshuvah Chelek Beith” at the top of the first three leaves, conforms to Liberman’s Type B. (Other copies have either “Sha’ar ha-Birurim” or “Yesod ha-Avodah”). Based on the typography alone, Haberman speculates that despite the "Shklov" imprint on the title, the book was actually printed in Kopyst (see Sha'arei Chabad, ibid.)