Auction 49 Part I - Books, Chassidism, Manuscripts, Rabbinical Letters

Talmud Yerushalmi – Signature and Many Glosses of Rabbi Yosef Zecharya Stern Av Beit Din of Šiauliai

Opening: $300
Sold for: $813
Including buyer's premium
Talmud Yerushalmi, Seder Nezikin and Tractate Nidah. Berlin 1862. Bound with a partial copy of the Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Shabbat, Zhitomir 1860. On the title page of Tractate Bava Kama is a signature: "Yosef Zecharya son of Rabbi Nathan Stern". On the leaves and endpapers are dozens of long scholarly glosses in his handwriting. The renowned Rabbi Yosef Zecharya Stern (1831-1904, Otzar HaRabbanim 8783), was a leading Lithuanian scholar and Torah authority. Son-in-law of Rabbi Mordechai Gimpel Yaffe. At the age of 20, he was appointed Rabbi of Jasionówka and from 1861 Rabbi of Šiauliai (Lithuania). His exceptional genius and phenomenal memory were matchless. He spoke at the rate of his racing thoughts and also wrote at an amazing speed, most of his thoughts were written "by hint and sporadically and without order" (his own description, see enclosed material). In 1870, a fire broke out in his city and thousands of leaves of his manuscripts went up in flames but he was able to retrieve most of the content from memory. His proficiency encompassed all realms of Torah knowledge and he could quote any book he reviewed just once word by word, even after time elapsed. Author of Zecher Yehosef, Tahaluchot Ha'Aggadot and other works. [2], 2-30; [1], 25; [1], 22, 36, 6, 27, 24, 23 leaves; [2], 52 leaves. 38 cm. Varying paper, bluish, white and dark-colored. Good condition, wear and stains. Old binding with leather spine, damaged.
Handwritten Glosses
Handwritten Glosses