SeferToldot Yaakov Yosef, Chassidic work on the Torah portions, by Rebbe Yaakov Yosef HaKohen of Polonne, disciple of the Baal Shem Tov.
Medzhybizh, 1817.
Second edition. Approbation of the rabbi of Medzhybizh, Rebbe. Avraham Yehoshua Heshel of Apta.
Toldot Ya’akov Yosef, one of the earliest Chassidic Seforim, was authored by the kabbalist Rebbe Ya’akov Yosef HaCohen of Polonne, a senior disciple of the Ba’al Shem Tov, who is often mentioned in this book with the words "I have heard from my teacher". In this edition these words are highlighted throughout the volume.
Chassidic leaders are especially fond of this Sefer. Rebbe Pinchas of Korets asserted that while not all new Seforim are aligned with the truth, the Seforim of the Rebbi of Polonne contain "the Torah of Paradise", and his citations of the Baal Shem Tov have the power to resurrect the dead. The Saba Kaddisha of Shpola would advise placing this holy Sefer under the head of an ill person (LaYesharim Tehilla). Upon his aliya to Eretz Israel, Rebbe Mendel of Vitebsk met Rebbe Pinchas of Korets who told him: "Why did the Polonne Rebbe print 1000 copies and set their price at one gold piece per book. He should rather have printed only one copy and I would have paid 1000 gold pieces for it…".
Stefansky Chassidut, no. 606.
Some copies of the Medzhybizh edition are dated 1780 on the title page. A commonly accepted story is that the Medzhybizh edition of the book printed in 1780 was entirely burned by the Mitnagdim (opponents of chassidut). However, bibliographers reached the conclusion that the book was never printed in Medzhybizh in 1780, but rather that this 1817 edition had two different title pages. The first title page mistakenly stated the year as 1780 (like the first edition printed in Korets), while the second correctly stated the year as 1817. This led to the fictitious account of the book burning. [See: Meir Wunder, "The first decade of Chassidic book Printing", Tagim – A Torah-Science Bibliographic Anthology, I, 1969, pp. 34-35; essay by Yitzchak Yudlov, Areshet 6, p. 110].
Overall Good-fair condition, later binding, repairs made to title page and first few pages-missing text, a hole and tears in the margin of the next few pages not affecting text, last page missing part of the lower margin, thick blue pages.
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