Orach Lechaim
First Edition
Berditchev, 1817
Personally autographed copy of the Arugas Habosem!
Chassidic commentary on the weekly Torah portions by the holy Admor Rabbi Avraham Chaim of Zlotchov.
Distinguished provenance! This sefer was the personal copy and bears the holy autograph of the tzaddik Rabbi Moshe Greenwald, Av Beis Din of Chust and author of ‘Arugas Habosem’.
Rabbi Moshe ben Amram Greenwald (1853-1910), Av Beis of Chust, was a disciple of the Ksav Sofer and one of the greatest Torah luminaries in Hungary in the late 19th-early 20th centuries. He was a talmid of the Shinova Rebbe and both Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Yissachar Dov of Belz. His yeshivah in Chust was one of the most venerated in all of Hungary, and the Belzer Rav equated it to the Chasam Sofer’s yeshivah in Pressburg. His sons and grandsons would later become leaders of the Pupa dynasty.
The title page and front flyleaf both bear the autographs of his sons and son-in-law:
1.
Rabbi Avraham Yosef Greenwald, his eldest son, served as Av Beis Din of Ungvar and later succeeded his father as Rav of Chust.
2.
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Greenwald, his fourth son, was an outstanding Torah scholar and tzaddik who dwelled in Kleinwardien. He authored many famous teshuvos to his brother, the Admor of Tzelim, which were eternalized in the sefer ‘Migdalos Merchakim’. He passed away at the tragically young age of 30 in 1919.
3.
Rabbi Aharon Silberstein, Av Beis Din of Beled, son-in-law of the Arugas Habosem, a son of Rabbi Yeshaya Silberstein, Av Beis Din of Weitzen and author of ‘Maasei Lamelech’.
The
Admor Rabbi Avraham Chaim of Zlotchov (d. 1816) was one of the great chassidic masters, a disciple of the Maggid of Mezritch, Rabbi Yechiel of Zlotchov, and later of Rabbi Shmelke of Nikolsburg. His first wife was the daughter of the Baal Hafla’ah (see Leaf 48b), whom he also regarded as one of his spiritual mentors and his second wife was the daughter of Rabbi Yissachar Ber of Zlotchov, author of ‘Bas Einai’. After his father-in-law’s passing, he succeeded him as Rav of Zlotchov.
The sefer ‘Orach Lechaim’ is one of the fundamental sefarim in the Chassidic library and serves as a primary source of Chassidic Torah. In this sefer, the author quotes foundational lessons from the Baal Shem Tov, Maggid of Mezritch and his son Rabbi Avraham Hamalach, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Premishlan, Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sassov, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev and the author’s own spiritual master Rabbi Shmelke of Nikolsburg.
Rabbi Avraham Chaim of Zlotchov compiled the sefer and prepared it for print between the years 1804-1814, collecting impressive haskamos from the greatest Chassidic Rebbes of his era, among them Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, the Kozhnitzer Maggid, the Chozeh MiLublin, Ohev Yisrael of Apta and the Beer Mayim Chaim. His cousin Rabbi Efraim Zalman Margalios, author of ‘Beis Efraim’, authored a beautiful preface to his sefer.
Berditchev, 1817. First Edition [Yisrael Beck Press]. Page Count: 52: 59: 29: 37: 31:
Page Size: 20 cm. Light green paper; title page partially printed in red ink.
Condition: Good with light stains on title page, slight marginal restoration on last page.
New leather binding.
An additional autograph by Rabbi Shmuel Tzvi Hersh Sternschuss, an illustrious dayan in Ungvar who corresponded with the Chasam Sofer, appears on the title page. The latter passed away in 1908 (Ishim BeTeshuvos Chasam Sofer #647).
Bibliography: Stefansky, Chassidus #34
