Sepher Vayikra. With Rashi, Baal HaTurim, Sifthei Chachamim and Nachal Kedumim by the Chid”a. With Haphtorath and Nachal Shrak by the Chid"a

(BIBLE)

Israel Bak

Safed

1833

Title-page in red and black

Vinograd, Safed 9; Yaari, “Hebrew Printing in the East,” no. 9; Mehlman 58

A rare volume of the Chumash issued by the celebrated press of Bak in the Holy City of Safed. - No complete set extant. The Chassidic disciple Israel Bak established his printing press in Berditchev, a central locus within the Chassidic world. In 1832 Bak ascended to the Land of Israel and renewed the "holy work of printing" in Safed where he produced just seven works - mostly of a popular, utilitarian nature - a Siddur, Tehillim, etc. Bak's venture to issue a five-volume set of the Chumash never reached fruition, indeed only the present Sepher Vayikra is extant (see M. Benayahu, “The Printing Press of R. Israel Bak in Safed,” Aresheth IV, p. 277-78). It has been speculated that other volumes of the Chumash were indeed issued, however all were destroyed as a result of the Arab violent assault on the Jews of Safed in 1834. At the dawn of the new year 1837, a severe earthquake rocked the city of Safed and the Jewish Community was all but destroyed. Bak then relocated to the city of Jerusalem and with the assistance of the Anglo-Jewish philanthropist, Sir Moses Montefiore, the Bak printing house was re-established.