Lot 88
Sefer HaGilgulim - Johannisburg, 1859 - Signatures of Rabbi Yosef Zundel of Salant
Sefer HaGilgulim, the Arizal's kabbalistic teachings, by R. Chaim Vital. [Johannisburg (Prussia, present day: Pisz), 1859].
Inscriptions on title page handwritten and signed by R. Yosef Zundel of Salant (Salantai): "Zundel of Salant"; "Donated by R. Akiva son of R. Gershon of Vilna"; "To Zundel of Salant"; "2 1/2 grush for binding". On the front endpaper: "Donated by Rachel, in the memory of R. Yosef Zundel" and the stamp of a synagogue in Petach Tikva.
R. Yosef Zundel of Salant (1787-1866) was a foremost disciple of R. Chaim of Volozhin, disciple of the Gaon of Vilna. He was the prime teacher of R. Yisrael of Salant, who cleaved to him in his youth in Salant, and under his directives began studying mussar intensely and disseminating the mussar approach to the multitudes. As the teacher of R. Yisrael of Salant, and the one who transmitted to him the teachings of the Gaon of Vilna, R. Yosef Zundel is considered the father of the mussar movement. R. Zundel studied in the Volozhin yeshiva, and was attached to the yeshiva dean, R. Chaim of Volozhin, who recognized his great stature and admitted him into the circle of his closest disciples, to whom he transmitted all the teachings of his great teacher the Gaon of Vilna, in revealed and hidden realms of the Torah. R. Zundel considered R. Chaim as his prime teacher and he refers to him in all his writings as "my master and teacher", whilst he quotes the Gaon of Vilna as "the great rabbi". His writings contain numerous excerpts and notes from their teachings and ways. Parts of his writings were published in the book HaTzaddik R. Yosef Zundel MiSalant VeRabbotav (Jerusalem, 1927), which includes his biography, his writings and the writings of his teachers R. Chaim of Volozhin and the Gaon of Vilna, of which he was the main transmitter.
[1], 1-64, 64-82 leaves. 18.5 cm. Darkened leaves. Good condition. Stains. New leather binding.
