Tzava’oth HaGaon HaGadol HaMefursam Mohr”r Naphtali HaKohen zt”l [ethical will of R. Naphtali Katz]

KATZ, NAPHTALI BEN ISAAC.

Menachem Mann B. Baruch

Vilna

1806

With summaries in Judeo-German. Introduction: “All who read this will be woken from a spiritual slumber to a quick repentance”

Vinograd, Vilna 36 (not in JNUL).

R. Naphtali Katz (1645-1719) served the prestigious communities of Ostraha, Posen, Frankfurt a/Main, and was elected as Honorary “President of Eretz Israel” by the community of Safed. On his way to the Holy Land he took ill and died in Constantinople. His ethical will was sent from there to his family, who were responsible for its publication. R. Naphtali Katz was one of those rare individuals who excelled both as halachist and kabbalist. His ethical will contains profound thought and moral instruction. The book also contains a captivating account of R. Naphtali’s last days in Ortakoi, Turkey. See EJ, Vol. X, col. 826.