Taharat HaKodesh, the Zer Zahav commentary on Tosefta Order Taharot, by the Vilna Gaon. Zhovkva, 1804. First edition.
Copy of R. "Meir Leibush Malbim". Several of his signatures on title page, endpaper and leaf [2]. On margins of title page, his handwritten inscription from 1839 [apparently, the present signatures are from his tenure as Rabbi of Września, Posen region), from 1837-1841].

R. Meir Leibush Malbim (acronym for Meir Leibush ben Yechiel Michel; 1809-1879), famed Biblical commentator and leading rabbi of his generation, well versed in both revealed and hidden realms of the Torah (his teacher for Kabbalah was R. Tzvi Hirsh of Zidichov). Wherever he served as rabbi or visited (he served as rabbi of Wreschen, Kempen, Bucharest, Kherson, Łęczyca, Mogilev and Königsberg), he was renowned for the uncompromising battle he waged against modernism, Haskalah and Reform, which elicited much harassment.

During his tenure in Bucharest, he fought the Maskilim, who retaliated by contriving a libel. This resulted in him being imprisoned and sentenced to death, and only thanks to the intervention of Sir Moses Montefiore was his punishment commuted to expulsion from Romania. The spread of Haskalah drove him to devote his time and skills to composing a systematic commentary to the Bible, with the goal of clarifying the depth of wisdom which lies in the words of the sages, and proving the veracity of the Oral Torah. Thus came to be his famous commentary to the Bible, which was well received throughout the Jewish world and reprinted in hundreds of editions.

This edition was compiled and printed by R. Meir of Shad (Seda), disciple of the Vilna Gaon. In his foreword, he writes: "… I did not depart from the tent of Torah in the home of the prominent Gaon, R. Eliyahu of Vilna, who quenched my thirst when I studied under him Mishnayot Order Taharot, with all the Tosefta of this Order…". At the beginning of the Vilna Gaon's commentary on Yonah (Vilna, 1800), the sons of the Vilna Gaon sharply censured R. Meir of Shad (without mentioning his name), claiming that the transcript of the Vilna Gaon's commentary on Mishnayot Order Taharot, which was in the possession of R. Meir (later printed in Brünn, 1802), was error-ridden (see lot 100). They write that R. Meir violated their exclusive rights to printing their father's teachings. This is another work printed by R. Meir of Shad without the authorization of the Vilna Beit Din and the sons of the Gaon of Vilna.

[2], 39, [1], 41-59, [1], 60-8, 59-60, 71-72 leaves. 23 cm. Bluish and greenish paper on some leaves. Good condition. Stains. Wear. Some tears and creases to margins. Ex libris label. Old binding, damaged and partially torn.
Vinograd, Otzar Sifrei HaGra, no. 281.

PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.