Sefer Mizbe'ach HaZahav, with Seder Pitum HaKetoret and prayers for salvation from plagues. Includes a Halachic, homiletic and Kabbalistic treatise regarding the Ketoret (incense) and its properties. Authored by R. Shlomo ben R. Mordechai of Mezritch, student of the Maharshal (R. Shlomo Luria). Basel: Konrad Waldkirch, 1602. First edition. Illustrated title page, with putti.
Interesting approbations from the great Torah scholars of the generation: R. Mordechai Yaffe, author of the Levush; R. Ephraim of Lunschitz (Leczyca), author of "Ollelot Ephraim"; R. Moshe ben R. Avraham, author of "Mateh Moshe"; R. Yehoshua Falk Cohen, author of the Sema; R. Yeshaya Horowitz, author of the Shela, and R. Yehuda Leib Eilenburg, author of "Minchat Yehuda".
Many old signatures from the cities of Broda and Holesov, 17th century. At the center of the title page is the signature of "the small Yisrael Segal of Vienna, currently in Broda", dated 1695.
R. Yisrael Segal of Vienna (died 1706), was rabbi of Broda (Uherský Brod, Moravia), from 1688-1696. He was the foremost disciple of the "Sha'ar Ephraim" of Vilna, R. Ephraim Hakohen. R. Ephraim lived in Vienna from 1663-1666 in the home of R. Yaakov Koppel Segal Frankel, father of R. Yisrael Segal. R. Yaakov Koppel was a wealthy man who supported several Torah scholars in his home. He also built the main Beit Medrash in the city, where R. Ephraim Hakohen served as Rosh Yeshiva. In 1666, R. Ephraim left Vienna to assume the rabbinate of Obuda (Budapest). R. Yaakov Koppel and his son R. Yisrael are mentioned in the introduction to "Sha'ar Ephraim" (written by the author's son): "…He was accepted in Vienna into the home of the renowned R. Koppel Halevi, father of R. Yisrael Halevi, philanthropist and supporter of Torah, a great Torah scholar in his own right, currently rabbi of Broda…".
R. Yisrael was the uncle of the wife of the Chacham Tzvi, R. Tzvi Ashkenazi. (His father, R. Koppel Halevi was the father-in-law of R. Zalman Mirels, father-in-law of the Chacham Tzvi).
R. Yisrael Segal was renowned as a great Kabbalist, and in 1696 wrote an approbation to the kabbalistic book "Vayakhel Moshe". He served as rabbi in Holesov from 1680-1688, after which he was rabbi of Pinsk for a short time. He then returned to Wurzburg, where he served as rabbi of the entire region (during which period he lived in Herzfeld). His son R. Shimon Segal succeeded him as rabbi of Wurzburg, and his son R. Yissachar Berman Segal was the rabbi of Kitzingen.
The title page contains the signature: "the small Mordechai Chazan of Holesov". The reverse contains the ownership inscription: "I bought this book from R. Avraham Dayan of Broda; the small Mordechai David ben R. Pesach of Prostitz [Prostejow]"; as well as a further inscription: "I borrowed this volume from R. Mordechai Hamburg".
44 leaves. 18 cm. Good-fair condition. Dampstains. Slight repairs to the title page margins. Non-original binding.