Sefer Shnei Luchot HaBrit by the gadol v’kadosh hadorot, the G-dly Kabbalist Rabbeinu Yeshayah HaLevi Horowitz, known as "HaShla"h HaKadosh" after this sefer.
Amsterdam, Emanuel Benveniste Press, 1648-1649 [ת"ח-ת"ט]. First editio. First edition of "Tefillat HaShla"h" for one’s descendants!
This first edition was printed during the period of the Chmielnicki riots in Eastern Europe, when parents were slaughtered together with their children in the most terrible ways, al kiddush Hashem. Page 258a bears a prayer for reciting upon sanctification of Hashem’s Name.
The sefer also has on page 258/b additional prayers composed by the Shla"h HaKodesh. A prayer for livelihood opens, "You, El-kim, sustain everything from bull’s horns through louse-eggs"
And the most famous "Tefillat HaShla"h" for educating children, about which he writes: "My heart tells me that an auspicious time for this prayer is Erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan." Indeed, to this day, many recite this prayer at the grave site of the Shla"h HaKadosh in Tiberias. It is difficult to exaggerate the greatness of the segulah concealed in reciting these important and famous prayers for livelihood and children’s education from an actual first edition copy of Sefer HaShla"h HaKadosh!
Sefer Shenei Luchot HaBrit: [1], 421, [1] Leaves. Lacking first title page, first page missing a bit of text, lacking pages 134-135,hole caused by candle burn to pages 186-191 affecting text (added in the margins in a antique manuscript), marginal repaired tears to pages 294-298, marginal tapings to pages 397-414, repairs to text of pages 417-421, lacking half of the last page & repaired with professional copy.
Antique marginal notations to page 185, 305, 320, 336, 360.
Sefer Vavei HaAmudim: 43 Leaves. Title page damaged & partly missing & laid on to backing paper, tears to page 2, page 4 lacking & filled in antique manuscript, paper tapings to pages 5-8, lacking last age.
Antique signatures, among them of the Broda family.
(Originally: [2], 421, [1]; 44 leaves).
Overall in Good-Fair condition, tears to some pages, water & age stains, candle wax drippings, unbound & text block split into several parts. 29.2 Cm.
Vinograd Amsterdam 163. Stefansky Classics, no. 359.
A native of Prague, Rabbi Isaiah Halevi Horowitz (1565-1630), was educated in the talmudic academies of Poland. After a stint as Av-Beth-Din of Frankfurt a/Main, he served as Rabbi of Prague. In 1621, he settled in Jerusalem, where he became Rabbi of the Aschkenazic community of the city. In Eretz Israel he availed himself of the esoteric teachings of the Ar’i (1534-1572) and his disciples.
These Kabbalistic teachings, only recently revealed, were duly incorporated into Rabbi Horowitz’s magnum opus, Shnei Luchoth HaBerith. Part Halachic code and part Kabbalistic treatise, the Shnei Luchoth Habrith exerted tremendous influence upon the Aschkenazi Jewish world and helped more than any other work to introduce the Kabbalah into daily religious life. The SHela”H HaKadosh is the source for many of the fundamental teachings of the early Chassidic Movement. See M.J. Heller, The Seventeenth Century Hebrew Book, Vol. 1, pp. 654-655.
The Sefer was received with awe throughout the Jewish world, and its teachings are quoted in the books of leading poskim and kabbalists. Many renowned Chassidic leaders were extraordinarily devoted to the study of the books of the Shelah.
The Bach – Rabbi Yoel Sirkis, notably acclaimed the author and his works in his approbation to the Shaar HaShamayim siddur: "R. Yeshaya HaLevi… he left behind blessing in his holy compositions, and upon seeing or reading them, we sensed the outpouring of holiness in all our limbs, and this is the sign that his works were composed for the sake of heaven, to elevate future generations…". The Tosafot Yom Tov in his approbation to the siddur writes: "He is a holy, awe-inspiring man… no doubt he was invested with a heavenly spirit".
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