Manuscript, novellae of R. Yehonatan Eibeshitz on the Talmud (topics in Nashim and Nezikin), handwritten by his disciples. [France and Germany, ca. 1750-1770].
Manuscript comprising booklets from several writers who studied under R. Yehonatan Eibeshitz in Metz, Altona and Hamburg. Most of the contents were written during the lifetime of their teacher based on his oral teachings. For the most part, these booklets contain pilpul discussions (Chiluka DeRabanan) on various Talmudic passages, and one sermon for Shabbat HaGadol. The manuscript belonged to R. Moshe Halberstadt, a disciple of R. Yehonatan Eibeshitz, and a large share of the booklets are in his handwriting. His signatures appear in several places, at the ends of discussions: "I heard and wrote, Moshe of Halberstadt".

The beginnings of the discussions usually contain a title with the topic and an attribution to R. Yehonatan Eibeshitz, and sometimes also note a place and date. For example: "Chiluka DeRabanan in the topic of Kidushin… I heard from my teacher and master R. Yehonatan, Sunday, 9th Shevat 1760, here in Hamburg"; "…by my teacher and master R. Yehonatan, Rabbi of Metz"; "…the famous R. Yehonatan, Rabbi of Metz and has been accepted as Rabbi of the triple community Altona, Hamburg, Wandsbek"; "Chiluka DeRabanan in the topic of Ketubot… by my teacher and master R. Yehonatan… I heard… Cheshvan 1760… here in Hamburg". At the top of several leaves appears the title: "Explanations from R. Yehonatan on Tractate Bava Metzia". Some pages in this booklet additionally contain the inscription: "Here, Altona, 1757". At the top of one page appears an inscription with the date 1754, signed by the same Moshe Halberstadt.

On the blank page at the beginning of the first booklet ("Chilukei DeRabanan in the topic of riding and steering") is an inscription from Sunday, 10th Sivan 1766, signed by "Itzek of Grieshaber", on the delivery of the booklet to his friend Moshe Halberstadt. An additional inscription on the same page: "To Berlin… my friend… R. Moshe Halberstadt in the house of R. Avraham Tzvi". He may also be the writer of the delivered booklet. Apparently, this is R. Yitzchak Itzek Grieshaber (1741-1823), Rabbi of Paks, a disciple of the Noda BiYehudah and a prominent rabbi of his generation (the present lot would then provide a novel biographical detail, that he was a disciple of R. Yehonatan Eibeshitz too).

At the beginnings of the discussions R. Yehonatan (d. 1764) is generally referred to with blessings for the living, and in some of the later booklets, including the sermon for Shabbat HaGadol, he is already mentioned with blessings for the deceased.
R. Yehonatan writes in the introduction to his Kreti UPhleti that he wrote few of his novellae himself, mentioning the notebooks of disciples who put his teachings in writing: "Although I intended to publish all of my novellae that I delivered in conferences with my wholesome disciples and exceptional peers, my plan was foiled and I was able to write only a small amount because I was very busy. Many papers I had written disappeared at the blink of an eye, since they were in common use, and I was too busy to guard them from being handed over to outsiders…". He goes on to state that he gave public lectures on the Shulchan Aruch from his novellae, and his disciples copied the topics covered for themselves. These transcriptions were the source of the various versions that developed, since each student wrote according to his own comprehension.
As R. Yehonatan writes there, this often brought about mistakes; however, these notebooks served as the basis for his works. In preparing Kreti UPhleti and Urim VeTumim, R. Yehonatan Eibeshitz carefully edited two drafts of his novellae. After an initial first draft, he would examine his leading disciples' notebooks containing his novellae and edit his and his disciples' writings into a final revision (other books of his, including Yaarot Devash and other homiletical works and commentaries on the Torah, are mostly from students' notes).
We have no information on the disciple Moshe Halberstadt. In R. Yehonatan Eibeshitz's novellae on the Rambam's Laws of Yom Tov (Berlin, 1799), his name appears as one of the pre-subscribers. In the publisher's preface preceding the pre-subscriber list, he writes that the novellae "were kept in manuscript… in the collection of holy writings from his important and upright disciples, as is known to the subscribers on the verso of the leaf…".

[66] leaves. Approx. 20 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains and wear. Tears to several leaves, affecting text. Detached leaves and booklets. Without binding.

One discussion in the present manuscript has been published as Kuntres Harchakat Nezikin (in the present item: "On the passage on mustard"), in Ohel Torah II – Bava Batra, Or Elchanan yeshiva, Iyar 1992, pp. 9-25, where the present manuscript is said to have formerly belonged to R. Itzele Blazer, Rabbi of St. Petersburg. To the best of our knowledge, the rest of the manuscript has not been published.