Lot 109
Or Olam, HaDerech HaTov VehaYashar - By Rabbi Meir Margolies, Author of Meir Netivim, Disciple of the Baal Shem Tov - Polonne, 1795
Or Olam – Fourth Light – HaDerech HaTov VehaYashar (the good and straight path), a long poem composed of good practices and laws, briefly summarizing the four parts of the Shulchan Aruch and the 613 commandments, by R. Meir Margolies, Rabbi of Lviv and Ostroh, author of Meir Netivim. Polonne, [1795]. First edition.
"Approbations of great Torah scholars": R. Meir of Konstantin - son of the Yaavetz, R. Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, R. Avraham Yehoshua Heshel Rabbi of Kolbuszowa (later, the Rabbi of Apta), and others.
The Meir Netivim was a prolific author in both revealed and esoteric realms of the Torah, in halacha and in homily. After his passing, his writings were arranged and published by his sons. The series of books was entitled Or Olam: Responsa Meir Netivim - Or Olam, two parts – First Light and Second Light (Polonne, 1791-1792); Sod Yachin UBoaz - Or Olam, Third Light, his will with many profound kabbalistic and Chassidic matters (Ostroh, 1794); and this book, HaDerech HaTov VehaYashar, the Fourth Light of the Or Olam series.
This composition was written by the author in response to a request by his son R. Shaul Margolies that he briefly summarizes the four parts of the Shulchan Aruch. R. Meir wrote a long acrostic poem, in alphabetical order, forming also his name Meir and the name of his son Shaul. The poem contains all the laws and practices of the four parts of the Shulchan Aruch and the 613 commandments.
The author, R. Meir Margolies (ca. 1707?-1790), was a leading disciple of the Baal Shem Tov, and one of the first to cleave to him, even prior to the Baal Shem Tov becoming famous. R. Meir is considered a "colleague-disciple" of the Baal Shem Tov and mentions him in several places as "my teacher" and "my friend". In his book Sod Yachin UBoaz (Ostroh, 1794), he writes of "my teachers, prominent in Torah and Chassidism, headed by my friend the pious R. Yisrael Baal Shem Tov… and from my youth, when I attached myself with bonds of love to my teacher and friend R. Yisrael Baal Shem Tov… I knew with absolute certainty that his conduct was in holiness and purity, piety and ascetism… occult matters were revealed to him…".
R. Meir Margolies served as rabbi of Horodenka, Lviv (from 1754) and Ostroh (from 1777), and was a leading and prominent rabbi in his times. In 1776, he received an official nomination from the King of Poland, Stanisław August Poniatowski, notifying the rabbis of those provinces of R. Meir's appointment by the royal court, retroactively from 1766, as Chief Rabbi of Ukraine (the rabbinical appointment, in gilt lettering, is preserved until this day in the Dubnow archives in New York).
[2], 3-40 leaves. 19.5 cm. High-quality paper. Good condition. Tear to top center of title page, with minor loss. Leaves trimmed, affecting headings of leaves 31-32. New cloth binding.
Stefansky Chassidut, no. 169.
