To attend this auction live or leave absentee bids
Lot : 30
Haggahos of Rabbi Betzalel Ranshburg on Sefer Korban Aharon – Dessau, 1742
Haggahos of Rabbi Betzalel Ranshburg on Sefer Korban Aharon – Dessau, 1742
Signed handwritten glosses by Rabbi Betzalel Ransburg of Prague, and glosses by his talmid, Rabbi Shmuel Freund, Raavad of Prague, on Toras Kohanim and Sefer Korban Aharon.
Sefer Korban Aharon, by the great Rabbi Aharon ben Chaim, is the most foundational commentary on Toras Kohanim.
In the margins of the sefer are seven glosses in the holy handwriting of Rabbi Betzalel Ransburg, five of them signed: “Betzalel R.B.” (99a), “B.R.B.” — an abbreviation for Betzalel Ransburg (165b, 170b), and “Betzalel” (83a).
There are also approximately sixty glosses in the handwriting of his talmid, Rabbi Shmuel Freund, Raavad of Prague.
Newly discovered glosses which, to the best of Genazym’s knowledge, have never before been published.
Rabbi Betzalel Ransburg (1762 – 1821) was one of the greatest sages in Prague. He was a disciple of the Noda B’Yehudah who referred to him as “my friend, the wonderful young scholar, exceedingly wise.” Rabbi Leib Fischels, the Ohr Chadash, and the Seder Mishnah were also his teachers.
His printed works are Hora Gever, Pischei Niddah, glosses on the Talmud printed in the margins of the Vilna Shas, and others.
In his eulogy, the Chasam Sofer described him as: “The famous gaon and holy tzaddik, who devoted himself daily to Torah study, and there is virtually none of his caliber left after him.”
Rabbi Shmuel Freund (1795–1881) served for decades as dayan and Raavad in Prague. He was a talmid of Rabbi Betzalel Ransburg, the Baruch Ta’am, and the Shemen Rokeach.
He was one of Prague’s last G-d-fearing rabbanim to fight against the rising influence of Haskalah. The Ksav Sofer, in a letter to the Aruch LaNer regarding the struggle of the chareidim against the reformers in Germany, wrote that it would be worthwhile to have Rabbi Shmuel Freund and his colleague, the dayan Rabbi Leib Teveles, sign the letter, “for they are two tzaddikim and very great in Torah” (Iggros Sofrim, Letter 5).
One of his talmidim was Rabbi Meshulam Feish Segal of Tosh (letter of Rabbi Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal, in the sefer Melitzei Eish, vol. III, p. 79; see there).
Rabbi Shmuel was a prolific author. Among his well-known sefarim are Zera Kodesh on Seder Zeraim, Imros Tehoros on Seder Taharos (parts of which were later reprinted in the Vilna Shas), Eis Lechanenah on Seder Moed, and more.
In his battle against the maskilim, he authored the kuntres Keren Shmuel opposing the permissibility of kitniyos on Pesach, and the sefer Patshegen HaIggeres against the work Darkei HaMishnah by Zechariah Frankel.
It appears that some of the sefarim of his rebbi, Rabbi Betzalel Ransburg, who left no surviving children, passed into his possession, for in his glosses on the Yerushalmi, which were printed in installments in the journal Beis Aharon VeYisrael, there is also a gloss from Rabbi Betzalel.
Dessau, 1742. Second edition.
Page Count: [2], 20, 260 leaves. Size: 34.5 cm. Condition: Good. Stains and minor flaws on the title page and several additional leaves.
