Two damaged copies of the book Semichat Chachamim on Tractate Berachot, by the Kabbalist R. Naftali HaCohen Katz, Rabbi of Frankfurt am Main. [The entire book is titled Semichat Chachamim, The first part - a long kabbalistic "introduction" - is titled Birkat Hashem on the title page, and the second part of the novellae on Tractate Berachot is name Kedusha U'Vracha].
· Birkat Hashem, Part 1, "Introduction to Semichat Chachamim". Frankfurt am Main, [1704]. Illustrated title page. Ancient signatures "Ya'akov son of R. [Peretz?]"; "Itzik Wolf ---".
79 leaves. 33 cm. Fair-poor condition. Heavily worn, damages affecting text to title page and first leaves. Unbound.
· Part 1 Birkat Hashem - "Introduction to Semichat Chachamim", and Part 2 "Kedusha U'Vracha", novellae on Tractate Berachot. Frankfurt am Main, [1704-1706]. Illustrated title page to Part 2.
Copy lacking 4 leaves (title page of Part 1 and leaves 2, 7-8): 3-6, 9-79 leaves; [1] 140 leaves. 34 cm. Condition varies. Most leaves are in good condition, with wide margins. Few stains and wear. leaves 3-6 and leaves 139-140 are detached and worn. Unbound.
Printed in the lifetime of the author - the celebrated kabbalist R. Naftali Katz (1650-1719), a renowned Ashkenazi kabbalist. Rabbi of Ostroh, Posen and Frankfurt am Main. From his youth, he already conducted himself with awesome holiness and outstanding diligence and knew the entire Talmud by heart. Immediately after his marriage, he was appointed head of the Ostroh Yeshiva and at the age of 30, was appointed Rabbi of the eminent city of Ostroh and all the Ukrainian districts. In 1689, he relocated to Posen to serve in its rabbinate. At that time, at the young age of 40, he was appointed leader of Va'ad Arba Aratzot, the highest Torah position in all Ashkenazi countries and in Poland. In 1704, he was appointed Rabbi of Frankfurt am Main, the center of Torah study in Germany. After the great fire which broke out in Frankfurt am Main in 1711, he was forced to flee the city (due to a libel that the fire broke out because of his dealing in practical kabbalah, hashba'ot and writing amulets). After various wanderings, he planned to settle in Eretz Israel, however upon arriving in Constantinople he became ill and died from his illness. His gravesite in Constantinople is until today a place of pilgrimage for prayer and salvation. [Reputedly, at the time the Ba'al Shem Tov reached Constantinople on his way to Eretz Israel, R. Naftali Katz appeared to him in a dream and revealed to him that he will not merit ascending to Eretz Israel just as he himself did not merit reaching Eretz Israel and died in Constantinople. This was the reason that the Ba'al Shem Tov turned back to his city of Medzhybizh].