Passover Haggadah - Ma'aleh Beit Chorin, "According to Ashkenazi and Sephardi tradition", with commentaries of the Alshich, Gevurot Hashem by the Maharal and Ollelot Efraim by Rabbi Shalom Efraim of Luntschitz [author of Kli Yakar]. Amsterdam, [1781]. Proops Press. First edition of the Haggadah with this title.
Half-title page with a copperplate illustration. Copperplate illustrations according to the 1795 Amsterdam edition. At the end of the Haggadah is a large [folded] plate with a map of Eretz Israel.
Ownership inscription on title page.
[2], 52 leaves + folded plate (map). Approximately 25 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, food stains. Detached signatures. Tear of about 10 cm on margins of folded map, without lack. Contemporary leather binding with gilt decorations. Wear, worming and damages to binding; most of the spine is missing.
Ya'ari 199; Otzar HaHaggadot 300.

"Sefirat HaOmer According to Kabbalah and Ma'ariv in its Time". Brno (Brünn, Czechoslovakia), 1763. Printed by the widow Francesca Neumann.
Miniature edition, complete copy in good condition, with contemporary leather binding.
At the beginning of the book is the Ma'ariv prayer, unvowelized, followed by the Sefirat HaOmer, including prayers recited before counting the Omer, followed by a separate page for each day of the Omer with Kabbalistic kavanot.
This edition is unknown and is not listed in the Bibliography of the Hebrew Book and in the Vinograd-Rosenfeld records. To the best of our knowledge, this is a Unicum - a single copy, which does not exist in any library in the world.
[47] leaves. 8 cm. Good condition. Stains. First leaf has cellotape repairs. Contemporary leather binding with minor damages.

LaYesharim Tehilla, a morality play by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, the Ramchal. [Amsterdam], [1743]. Printed by the orphans of Shlomo Katz Proops.
Additional leaf preceding title page [with title in red ink], followed by the title page [partially in red ink]. Written on the title page: "Poem for the wedding day of the wise R. Ya'akov de Chaves with the modest praiseworthy bride Ms. Rachel de Vega Enriques".
LaYesharim Tehilla is one of three plays written by the Ramchal (the other two are Ma'ase Shimshon and Migdal Oz) and is considered one of his most important works. The heroine of the play is Tehilla (Praise), daughter of Hamon (Multitude), who is designated to wed Yosher (Rectitude), son of Emet (Truth), but due to the conquest of the city by the army of "Mevucha" (Confusion), erroneously the designated groom Yosher was exchanged with Rahav (Pride). With a masterly use of language, the work addresses issues of ethics and philosophy. In his introduction to the play, the Ramchal writes: "There is nothing like a parable to reveal truth and to teach… to bring the hidden into the light, to open unseeing eyes...".
The Ramchal printed only 50 copies of this work in celebration of the marriage of his friend R. Ya'akov de Chaves, to give to the bride and groom and to their relatives. In his introduction to the second edition (Berlin, 1780), the publisher R. Shlomo Dubna writes: "… This book was printed by the author himself in Amsterdam, in 1743 and he only printed 50 copies that were all brought to the libraries of Sephardi wealthy individuals in Amsterdam. Therefore, he who seeks the book cannot find it unless he pays a large sum, therefore I have reprinted it". Due to the popularity of the composition, it has been printed many times.
This edition of LaYesharim Tehilla has a particularly high bibliophilic value. Printed on high-quality paper with very wide margins, it is one of the greatest achievements of 18th century Hebrew printing in Amsterdam.
On page [29b], words which were omitted are added by hand in square vowelized script. This correction does not appear in other copies which we inspected but they were printed in the following editions [with a slight variation]. Possibly, the correction is in the handwriting of the author himself.
[42] leaves. 23X30 cm. Especially wide margins. Good condition. Some leaves have stains. Two small holes on leaves [19] and [20]. Several tiny tears to margins. New binding, with parts of the original binding.

Arba'a Turim, by Rabbi Jacob ben Asher. Four parts: Orach Chaim, Yoreh De'ah, Even HaEzer and Choshen Mishpat. Cremona, 1558. Printed by Vincenzo Conti.
On the title page is an early handwritten ownership inscription of R. David son of R. Eliyahu Luantz of Worms: "G-d was gracious to me and gave me also this, David son of... R. Eliyahu Luantz of Worms". On the flyleaf is an ownership inscription that the book "Belongs to …R. Nathan son of R. Shimon Adler Katz" [R. Nathan Adler of Frankfurt]. On the sheets are about ten short glosses in early Ashkenazi script [16th/17th century], of rulings and customs, clearly written by a posek. Apparently these glosses are handwritten by R. Eliyahu Luantz, the "Ba'al Shem", Rabbi of Worms as evident from comparison to his handwriting; see previous item).
The kabbalist Rabbi Eliyahu Luantz (1664-1731), disciple of the Maharal of Prague was Rabbi and head of the yeshiva in Worms. Earlier, he had served in the rabbinate of Hanau, Fulda, Friedberg and Mainz. He became renowned as R. Eliyahu Ba'al Shem for his study of kabbalah and his writing of amulets according to practical kabbalah. One of his celebrated disciples was R. Yoel Ba'al Shem of Zamość, a leading kabbalist and hidden tsaddik, who was the teacher of the teacher of Rabbi Yisrael Ba'al Shem Tov of Medzhibozh, father of the Chassidic movement.
R. Nathan HaCohen Adler (1741-1800) was born in Frankfurt am Main to R. Ya'akov Shimon Adler. He was an outstanding Torah scholar and had vast knowledge of kabbalah. He headed the yeshiva he established in his home in Frankfurt and was the close teacher of R. Moshe Sofer, author of the Chatam Sofer who mentions his teacher frequently in his halachic and Kabbalistic books referring to him as "My close teacher, the famed pious Torah genius the great 'eagle'" ["eagle" is a poetic phrase alluding to the meaning of the name Adler], "My teacher, the pious Cohen", etc. Rabbi Adler was pursued by his fellow Frankfurt populace causing him great suffering. They even prohibited him to establish a minyan in his Beit Midrash which was conducted according to his special Kabbalistic customs. For a while, he served as Rabbi of Boskovice but afterwards he returned to his home and his Beit Midrash in Frankfurt.
[1 blank], 117 leaves; [1 blank]; 91 leaves; [1 blank], 54 leaves [a signature of 5 blank leaves was bound originally between leaves 55-59]; 139 leaves [leaves 133-139 are lacking and replaced with facsimiles]. Total of 12 missing leaves, 5 at the end of Even HaEzer and 7 at the end of Choshen Mishpat. 30 cm. Good-fair condition. Some leaves with open tears, restored with paper and facsimile. Stains, restored wear damages. New elaborate leather binding.

Ritva novellae on Tractate Chulin. Prague, [1735]. Printed by the grandsons of Moshe Katz. First edition of the Chiddushei HaRitva on Tractate Chulin.
On the front flyleaf are many ownership inscriptions, including a German inscription: "This book belongs to Mr. Jonas Nathan Eybeschutz, chief preacher and chief rabbi of the Jewish communities in Prague as well as in Metz in Lothringen at that time in Prague Anno 1741 the 10th of June 1741".
Next to this inscription is another inscription in Hebrew by a different writer: "I was very… when I saw that this book belonged to…Rabbi Yonatan Eybeschutz author of Urim V'Tumim, Kreiti U'Pleiti, Tiferet Yehonatan, Bnei Ahuva, Ye'arot D'vash, Ahavat Yonatan and other books which have not yet been printed".
On the verso of the flyleaf is a note of receiving the book from R. [Natan] Neta son of R. Yehonatan Eybeschutz signed by "Yitzchak Itzik Netir". [R. Yitzchak Itzik son of R. Hertz Netir of Butzweiler - a Dayan in Metz in 1765, see enclosed material]. On the title page is an undeciphered signature: "I have purchased this from Rabbi G.[?]…Zalman…".
Rabbi Yehonatan Eybeschutz (1690-1764) was a renowned Torah scholar, posek, kabbalist and head of yeshiva in his days. Orphaned from his father, R. Natan Neta who was Rabbi of the city of Eybeschutz, the young child Yehonatan, already known as an outstanding genius, was sent to Prostějov to the home of R. Meir Eisenstadt, author of Panim Me'irot, who raised him as son and disciple [R. Yehonatan wrote about him "The Torah scholar renowned for his Torah knowledge and for his fear of Heaven, my teacher in my youth…", Ya'arot D'vash Part 1 Drush 4]. At 14, he wed the daughter of R. Moshe Yitzchak Shapira Rabbi of Mladá Boleslav (Bumsla), resided there for two years teaching in his father-in-law's yeshiva and thereafter moved to Hamburg studying Torah with the rabbi of the city R. Yechezkel Katzenellenbogen, author of Knesset Yechezkel. In 1714, at the age of 19 [!], he was summoned by the Prague community, (at that time the central Jewish community in Bohemia) to serve as orator. His sermons greatly impressed his audience and shortly after, he was appointed head of the Prague yeshiva and taught his disciples with his special method of Torah in-depth study (pilpul). At that time, he also joined the Prague Beit Din and the Jews of Prague considered him second only to R. David Oppenheim who was the Chief Rabbi of the city. Due to his exceptional wisdom, the city officials and governors were fond of him and with his pleasant manners he succeeded in influencing them to ease the harsh attitude and decrees placed upon the Jews. He cleverly and ingeniously debated with gentile scholars on tenets of the Jewish religion and Talmudic wisdom [In the introduction to his book Kreiti U'Pleiti, he mentions "which I have written and debated with Christian scholars and officials to eliminate Christian insults"]. He used his connections to help him print the Talmud, since at that time it was still prohibited to print the Talmud. After receiving approval, he printed Tractate Berachot with several omissions of Aggadah (printed under the name Hilchot Berachot). He had contact with leading medical experts and in his books he cites things which he proved to his friends, leading physicians in Halle and in Prague on the topics of terefot and nidah.
In 1741, he was chosen as Rabbi of the city of Metz, France, succeeding R. Ya'akov Yehoshua Falk, author of Pnei Yehoshua (who moved to Frankfurt am Main to serve as Rabbi and Av Beit Din). That same year, Prague was seized by France during the War of the Austrian Succession. In the introduction to Kreiti V'Pleiti he writes about those times: "G-d caused me to arise and leave Prague to the large city of scholars…Metz, with compassion he took me out before G-d's anger erupted with the bad things which took place in the Prague community…". During the war, the Austrians accused Rabbi Yehonatan of collaborating with the French and they confiscated all his property which he left in the city of Prague [possibly, the German inscription on this book was written at the time his property was confiscated in Prague].
He served in the Metz rabbinate for about nine years until 1750 and relocated to serve in the rabbinate of Altona, Hamburg and Wandsbek succeeding R. Yechezkel Katzenellenbogen, author of Knesset Yechezkel. (This was the leading position of the Ashkenazi communities). At that time, R. Ya'akov Emden lived in Altona and he suspected R. Yehonatan to have Sabbatean beliefs, which developed into a fierce and bitter strife.
R. Yehonatan who was one of the cleverest and astute Torah scholars in his days headed a yeshiva gedolah most of his life, first in Prague and later in Metz and Altona. Thousands of disciples studied in his yeshiva and many rabbis in his generation were his disciples or were taught by his disciples.
Numerous books with his teachings were published. Besides the book Kreiti U'Pleiti on Yoreh De'ah printed in his lifetime in Altona in 1763, more of his works were printed after his death by his descendants and his disciples: Tiferet Yisrael on the laws of nidah (Karlsruhe, 1766); 613 mitzvot in rhyme (Prague, 1765); Urim V'Tumim on the Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat (Karlsruhe, 1775); Ye'arot D'vash homilies (Karlsruhe, 1779) and many more works on the Rambam and the Shulchan Aruch, Talmudic novellae, commentaries and homilies on the Torah and on the Passover Haggadah, etc.
27 leaves. 33 cm. Printed on bluish paper. Fair condition. Stains. Worming. Worn and damaged binding.