Lot 332
Manuscript of Rabbi Zevulun Charlap – With Responsum in the Name of the Maharil Diskin Regarding Segulot for Cures – Jerusalem, 1894
Handwritten leaves, letter and Torah novellae in the handwriting of Rabbi Zevulun Charlap, member of the Beit Din of the Maharil Diskin. [Jerusalem, c. 1894]. · Letter in the handwriting of Rabbi Zevulun Charlap, on printed stationery (in golden ink) of the "Committee of Kollel Suwałki and Lomza", signed by Rabbi "Zevulun Charlap" and with signatures of Rabbi "Shachne ----?" and Rabbi "Binyamin Beinush Tikochinsky". The content of the letter is an interesting responsum in the name of the Maharil Diskin regarding segulot: "Concerning the ill person…written to the renowned…Rabbi Yehoshua Leib, to pray and beseech for his complete recovery…He has prayed at the Western Wall… G-d should send him help…Concerning the segula…he responded that this segula is brought in the book Pitchei Teshuva Yoreh Deah Siman 372, in the name of a responsum of the Chatam Sofer…and the Gaon (Maharil) said that he has researched it and here we also are accustomed to using this segula…". The segula discussed in the letter is the ancient practice of placing the hand of the ill person in the hand of a dead person before his burial to transfer the decree from the live to the dead. On the verso: two pages of additional Torah novellae in the handwriting of Rabbi Zevulun. · Long responsum (3 large pages, in the handwriting of Rabbi Zevulun, unsigned) on the laws of hefker and on the laws of a gift from a "shechiv mera" (a person on his deathbed). Rabbi Zevulun Charlap (1841-1898) was born in Vawkavysk in Poland and in 1851, he ascended to Jerusalem with his parents. He studied in the HaRan Yeshiva of Rabbi Nachum of Szadek and was a disciple of Rabbi Meir Auerbach, author of the Imrei Binah. He was appointed court scribe and later dayan in Beit Din of the Maharil Diskin in Jerusalem, and he signed many approbations and rulings. He was appointee and manager of Kollel Suwałki and Lomza and of the Va’ad HaKlali. Among his books: Me’orei Chaim on Mishlei (Jerusalem, 1891) and Yesod HaMa’alah on Shevi’it and Ma’asrot (printed at the end of Beit Zvil, Vol. 2, Jerusalem, 1948). His famous son is the Kabbalist Rabbi Ya’akov Moshe Charlap, Rabbi of Sha’arei Chesed and head of the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva, author of Beit Zvul and Mei Marom. [6] written pages, size and condition vary. Wear and tears.
