Dov Baer ben Shneur Zalman of Lubavitch (The Mitteler Rebbe). Sha’ar HaTeshuvah VehaTephilah. Part II.

(CHASSIDISM).

Isaac ben Samuel

Shklov

1818

FIRST EDITION . Printed on green tinted paper. The Haim Liberman copy.

Vinograd, Shklow 198; Habermann, Sha’arei Chabad (in Alei Ayin, S.Z. Schocken Festschrift), no. 271; Stefansky, Chassiduth 586.

First edition of a fundamental text of Chabad Chassiduth. R. Dov Baer inherited the mantle of leadership from his father, R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of the Chabad School of Chassiduth. Fondly referred to by the Chassidim as the Mitteler Rebbe, 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 HaTeshuvah, 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 HaTeshuvah, published as the third part of Tanya. The late Chabad bibliographer, Chaim Liberman describes typographical variants. Our copy with the correct heading “Sha’ar HaTeshuvah Chelek Beith” at the top of the first three leaves, conforms to Liberman’s Type B. (Other copies have either “Sha’ar HaBirurim” or “Yesod Ha’Avodah”). Based on the typography, Haberman speculates that despite the “Shklov” imprint on the title, the book was likely printed in Kopyst (see Sha’arei Chabad, ibid). See Ch. Liberman, Ohel Roche”l, Vol. I, p. 190, no. 143 and Vol. III, p. 24 (the present lot).