Simchath Levav [“Gladness of Heart”: Ethics]. Text of Bachya, Ibn Pakuda, , Chovoth ha-Levavoth [“Duties of the Heart”] with commentary Path Lechem

Katz, Chaim Abraham of Mohilev

Aryeh ben Menachem, etc.

Shklov

1803

FIRST EDITION OF COMMENTARY. Title within architectural columns and two lions. Tailpieces. Text in square Hebrew letters surrounded by commentary in “Rashi” letters. On f. 93r. a scientific diagram

Vinograd, Shklov 126

A BOOK BY ONE OF RUSSIA'S FIRST ENLIGHTENED JEWS The book bears the endorsements of R. Chanoch [Schick] of Shklov and Rabbi Moshe Cheifetz of Tchaus who describes Katz as a “great author, adept in all sciences, natural and political, but above all in Torah.” “R. Hayim Avraham Katz, an enlightened preacher and author in Mogilev, reported: ’I have seen wise and God-fearing people in our land who are full of mockery upon hearing of the discovery of America and the populated lands opposite the bottoms of our feet. They say: How is it possible to believe something of this kind, which contradicts the axioms of reason?’ ” David E. Fishman, Russia’s First Modern Jews: The Jews of Shklov (1995) p. 68, citing Simchath Levav, introduction, ff.4v.-5r