Bris Menuchah. Amsterdam, 1648
This sefer belonged to tzaddikim and geonim!
Bris Menuchah is one of the earliest known authenticated kabbalistic works to explain the name of Hashem and names of the heavenly angels. This sefer is generally ascribed to Rabbi Chamai Gaon, although there are others who attribute it to Rabbi Avraham bar Yitzchak MiRamon HaSephardi.
Bris Menuchah is one of the oldest and most reliable kabbalistic works. Kabbalists throughout the generations were effusive in their praises of this sefer, and some even assert that the author was taught with ruach hakodesh, directly from the mouth of Eliyahu Hanavi!
Antique Sefer with Sacred Provenance!
1. The flyleaf bears the autograph of Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Heller-Charif along with the inscription:
“I purchased this holy s[efer] in honor of my Rock and Master on 29 Nissan, 5583 (1823) in Bonyhad. The humble Tzvi Hersh Heller.”
Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Heller (1776-1835), author of Tiv Gittin, was one of the greatest scholars, teachers and disseminators of Torah in his generation, and his phenomenal genius earned him the moniker “Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Charif” (the sharp one). Rabbi Tzvi Hersh served as Rosh Yeshivah in Brod; Av Beis Din and Rosh Yeshivah in Ungvar; and Av Beis Din of Bonyhad and Obuda. After his passing, his widow married the Chasam Sofer. Numbering among his noteworthy talmidim were the authors of Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, Karnei Re’em, Rabbi Yoel Ungar of Paks, author of Shu”t Riva, and renowned Chassidic masters Rabbi Tzvi Hersh of Liska and Rabbi Shalom of Kaminka.
2. The title page and leaf 2a feature the autograph of Rabbi Shmuel ben Rabbi Avraham Weiss of Munkacs, father of the Imrei Yosef of Spinka. Rabbi Shmuel drew Torah, chassidus and kabbalah from the wellsprings of the Bnei Yissachar, Rabbi Yehuda Tzvi of Rodzol, the Sar Shalom of Belz, and Rabbi Yitzchak Eisik of Ziditchov who blessed him that he should be a miracle worker (preface to Beis Yitzchak).
3) The title page and last page of the sefer both feature the stamps of the tzaddik and kabbalist
Rabbi Yitzchak Eisik Weiss,
Av Beis Din of Svaliava, author of Beis Yitzchak, who was the brother of the abovementioned Rabbi Shmuel Weiss.
Rabbi Yitzchak Eisik Weiss (1824-1894), Av Beis Din of Svaliava, was the author of Beis Yitzchak and one of the greatest Rabbanim and kabbalists in Hungary. In his youth, he studied chassidus and kabbalah under the Bnei Yissachar, Rabbi Yehuda Tzvi of Rodzol, the Sar Shalom of Belz and Rabbi Yitzchak Eisik of Ziditchov. He was a genius in the wisdom of kabbalah, and his nephew and disciple the Imrei Yosef of Spinka, who was one of his foremost talmidim, inscribed in the preface to his sefer Beis Yitzchak: “My uncle, the true genius, sharp and fluent in every cavern of revealed and hidden Torah,
has ten hands…” In the preface to sefer Likutei Torah, he also wrote that his uncle compiled and edited the writings of his spiritual master Rabbi Yitzchak Eisik of Ziditchov and that the manuscripts were bequeathed to him as per Rabbi Yitzchak Eisik’s last will and testament.
The Maharshag writes in his teshuvos: “This was the custom of the genius and kabbalist Moreinu hHarav Yitzchak Eisik…author of Beis Yitzchak on Megillah, and I knew that he is virtually the only kabbalist in this country…” (Shu”t MaharshagVol. 3 Ch. 30).
4)
Rabbi Moshe ben Rabbi Binyamin Sinai of Unsdorf. Rabbi Binyamin Sinai (d. 1706) was renowned as the first Rabbi of Unsdorf. Rabbi Moshe was apparently his son.
5) Stamp of Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Halevi Rottenberg of Kleinswardein son of the Bnei Shileshim of Kassan.
Bris Menuchah
In his preface to Eitz Chaim, Rabbi Chaim Vital inscribes: “Sefer Bris Menuchah is truth and authored by a sage and scholar who is great in Torah and wisdom and who concealed his words in depth. It was composed based on the words of the tzaddik to whom Eliyahu appeared and taught.”
The Ramak in Pardes Rimonim (Shaar Hanekudos Ch. 1) writes: “Bris Menuchah is a wonderful sefer explaining the Name [of Hashem], and surely these words of kabbalah [were taught] from mouth to mouth, or from the mouth of an angel [as] they are not concepts understood with precision and depth of intellect, but with an exalted perception that resembles ruach hakodesh.”
The present sefer has been cited repeatedly by the greatest kabbalists of all times, among them the Ramchal, Vilna Gaon and exalted Chassidic masters (see Degel Machaneh Efraim, Parshas Bereishis citing his grandfather the Baal Shem Tov, and the writings of the Maggid of Mezritch).
The Ninth Hour
An Exalted Segulah
The segulah of the Ninth Hour, which has gained renown in recent years, is sourced in the present sefer, Bris Menuchah, leaf 19:
“It should be accepted that the ninth year is a select year; the ninth month is the best month, a month of desire; the ninth day of the month is the best of the month; and the ninth hour of the day is the best and choicest hour of the day…”
Amsterdam, 1648. First Edition. Page Count: 40 leaves. Page Size: 18 cm. Condition: Good. Antique binding.
Bibliography: Stefansky, Sifrei Yesod, Supplement p. 183
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