Em HaBanim Semechah, on redemption from the final exile, by R. Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal. Budapest: Salamon Katzburg, 1943. First edition.
Fine copy in original binding, with gilt decorations to spine and front binding.
First edition of R. Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal's famous work regarding the importance of immigrating to Eretz Israel, love for Eretz Israel and defense of non-observant people in the Zionist movement. The book includes sharp criticism of the rabbis who hindered immigration to Israel before the Holocaust, and R. Teichtal writes further that the Holocaust came as a punishment for disdain for Eretz Israel.
The book was composed under difficult circumstances, while the author was hiding from the Nazis. He nevertheless quotes hundreds of sources, from memory. The printing of the book was concluded in 1943, mere months before the German invasion and the destruction of Hungarian Jewry.

The author, R. Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal (1885-1945; perished in the Holocaust). Prominent Hungarian rabbi, served as rabbi and dean of Pishtian (Piešťany). In 1942 he fled Slovakia for Hungary for fear of the Nazis. Until the Holocaust, he staunchly opposed Jewish settlement in Eretz Israel, like the rest of Hungarian Chassidic rabbis and his teacher the Minchat Elazar of Munkacs. During the Holocaust, he began to change his views, after studying the topics of exile and redemption and clarifying whether Eretz Israel should be settled by natural means. His conclusions were published in the present book, which he wrote and printed despite great difficulty in Budapest in 1943. When the Jews began to be expelled from Hungary, R. Teichtal fled back to Slovakia. After the suppression of the Slovak Uprising in 1944, he was expelled to Auschwitz, where he perished shortly before the end of the war. He is also known for his Responsa Mishneh Sachir, parts of which he published in his lifetime. His grandson is R. Meir Brandsdorfer, dayan and posek of the Edah HaCharedit in Jerusalem.

[11], 3-360 pages. Approx. 23 cm. Paper somewhat dry. Good condition. Some stains. Stamp to title page. Original binding, with minor damage.

Talmud Bavli – complete set. Munich-Heidelberg, 1948. "Published by the Union of Rabbis in the American Occupation Zone in Germany".

After World War II, the demand for Talmud and holy books by surviving Jews congregated in the DP camps exceeded the few available copies. From 1946, the Union of Rabbis in Germany, with the assistance of the American army and the JDC, began to print volumes of Talmud for survivors. At first, only a few tractates were printed in various formats. In 1948, the present edition – a complete edition of the Talmud – was printed for the first time. Each volume contains two title pages. The first title page was especially designed to commemorate the printing of the Talmud on the debased German land; on its upper part is an illustration of a Jewish town with the caption "From slavery to redemption and from darkness to great light"; on its lower part is an illustration of barbed wire fences and a concentration camp, with the captions: "Labor camp in Germany during Nazi era", "They almost destroyed me on Earth, but I did not forsake Your precepts" (Psalms 119).

19 volumes. Approx. 39 cm. Several volumes printed on dry paper. Overall good condition. Stains. Tears, including tear to title page of Tractate Pesachim. Title page of Tractate Rosh Hashanah missing. New leather bindings (uniform).

"Teachings of our master… teaching the people of G-d the path to follow", bound manuscript (Chabad "Bichel"). [1815]. Hand-Illustrated title page.

Early copying of some 30 letters, discourses and Chasidic homilies by Rebbe Shneur Zalman of Liadi – the Alter Rebbe. This copying was made approximately two years after the Alter Rebbe passed away (on 24th Tevet, 1812). When compared with printed versions of the writings of the Baal HaTanya, the essays in the present manuscript contain many additions, omissions and textual variants.

At the beginning of the manuscript, Mahadura Kama of Igeret HaTeshuvah, a part of the Tanya (this version was unknown to the editors of the Mahadura Kama of the Tanya, Brooklyn, 1982), followed by two letters written by the Baal HaTanya after his release from prison in St. Petersburg (letters 2 and 4 of Igeret HaKodesh in the Tanya; letters 73 and 37 of his Igrot Kodesh). At the end of one of these letters appears a copying of the Alter Rebbe's signature, reading: "Shneur Zalman son of R. Baruch".
The present manuscript contains 25 homilies delivered by the Alter Rebbe during the 1790s-1800s, both in Liadi and in Liozna. Towards the end of the Bichel (p. 61b) is a copying of two additional letters written by the Alter Rebbe in 1803 (letters 30 and 1 of Igeret HaKodesh in the Tanya, letters 84 and 82 of his Igrot Kodesh).
On p. 61a, copying of a discourse by the Maggid of Mezeritch (Maggid Devarav LeYaakov, 2005 edition, no. 83, p. 30). To the best of our knowledge and research, the discourse "Lehavin Inyan Nefesh VeRuach", appearing in the present manuscript in leaves 59a-61b, has never been printed.
Some forty blank leaves of a later period are bound at the end of the manuscript, after leaf 64. On the first page is a copying in a different hand of a discourse by the Mitteler Rebbe (Maamarei Admor HaEmtza'i of Lubavitch, IX, p. 1589). The last two pages contain an index of the discourses and letters copied in the manuscript.

Ownership inscriptions and birth records from ca. 1820s-1830s inscribed on last page. Stamp of the "Bikur Cholim Hospital" in Jerusalem.

[1], 2-64 leaves (two columns per page on about half of leaves) + [40] blank leaves (on first page, copying of the discourse by the Mitteler Rebbe; and on last leaves, index and ownership inscriptions). Leaf 55 torn and mostly lacking. 18.5 cm. Good condition. Stains, including dark stains. Creases and light wear. Large marginal open tears to title page, repaired with paper, affecting illustrated frame. Tears from ink erosion, affecting frame of title page and text in some places. Worming, affecting text. Stamps. New binding, slightly worn.

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, EE.011.007.

Shanah Tovah letter from Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, the Rebbe Rayatz of Lubavitch. Otwock, 23rd Elul, 1936.
Typewritten on the Rebbe Rayatz's official stationery, with his signature: "Yosef Yitzchak".
Sent to his relative R. Azriel Zelig Slonim: "Approaching the new year… I bless him and his household… with a Ketivah VaChatimah Tovah for a good and sweet year, physically and spiritually".

R. Azriel Zelig Slonim (1897-1972), a leading Chabad activist, member of Agudas Chasidei Chabad and director of Kollel Chabad. A founder of Lubavitch Women's Organization and the Beit Chanah institution, and a founder of Shikun Chabad in Jerusalem.

[1] leaf, official stationery. 24.5 cm. Good condition. Filing holes. Folding marks. Creases and light wear to margins. Marginal dampstain. Inscription on verso.

"Public-private" letter from Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Brooklyn, New York, 11th Nisan, 1959.
Typewritten on the Rebbe's official stationery, with his handwritten signature – "M.Schneersohn", with words added in his handwriting.
A "public-private" letter (an identical letter sent to several individuals), sent to R. Dov Ber Tkach. In the letter, the Rebbe offers a blessing for the upcoming Pesach festival: "Approaching the Festival of Matzot, the time of our freedom, I hereby offer my blessing for a kosher and joyous festival and for true freedom, freedom from physical worries and spiritual worries – from everything that obstructs service of G-d with happiness and joy; and to draw from this freedom and happiness the entire year…". At the end of the letter the Rebbe adds in his handwriting: "Respectfully and [with a festival blessing]".
On the margins of the letter the Rebbe writes that he received his book, Part IX of Kuntres HaShemot HeChadash, and adds in his handwriting: "Congratulations".

The recipient of the letter, R. Dov Ber Tkach (1889-1975), an important Chabad rabbi in Eretz Israel, founded and directed the Bnei Temimim Torah school and Achei Temimim yeshiva in Tel Aviv. Born in Ludmir (Volodymyr), he was one of the first students of the Ludmir yeshiva under the Karlin Chassid R. Chaim Mendel Kostromtzki, and later studied under R. Yoel Shurin in Zviahel, who declared him worthy of being a great posek. After his engagement to the daughter of R. Avraham Eliyahu Seltz of Lokachi he joined the Chabad movement and studied in the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva in Lubavitch. He was later appointed rabbi and mashpia in a Chabad community in Ludmir, where he would deliver Chassidic lectures in the Lubavitch shtiebel. He also raised funds for the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva in Warsaw. In the summer of 1932 he participated in the arrangements for the visit of the Rebbe Rayatz in Ludmir. In 1935 he immigrated to Eretz Israel and served as Rabbi of the Kontrovitz and Ahavat Tzion synagogues in Tel Aviv. In 1947 he traveled to the United States on behalf of the Rebbe Rayatz to raise funds for Chabad institutions in Tel Aviv. He is known for authoring Kuntres HaShemot HeChadash (twelve parts) – an important index of names for scribes of marriage and divorce documents. In addition, he authored Tarach Amudei Or on the 613 mitzvot (eight parts), Seder Yemot Olam on history, and more.

[1] leaf. Rebbe's official stationery. 21.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Folding marks and creases. Many stains and wear. Inscription on verso (in pencil).