Segulah Sefer with the "Vach Nacht" Learning Order! Yesod Yitzchak on matters of circumcision, following Kabbalistic and Hasidic teachings, along with the learning order for the night before the circumcision, called in Yiddish "Vach-Nacht."
First edition, Zolkiew, 1810.
The sefer has received numerous endorsements from prominent Torah scholars of the time, including Rabbi Meir Kristianpoller of Brody; the Yeshuot Yaakov of Lvov; Rabbi Ephraim Zalman Margolis of Brody; and Rabbi Moshe Shapira of Zalzitz. Additionally, in the subscriber list following the endorsements, one can find information about the great rabbis and tzaddikim of that generation and their places of residence at the time the sefer was printed.
Pages 41-47, containing the learning order for "the night before the circumcision, called in Yiddish Vach-Nacht" was printed for the first time. [This includes selections from the Zohar].
In a later edition, it was written in the name of the holy Rebbi Shalom of Belz that this sefer is an excellent protection in every home, especially for the child and the mother in the house.
The author, the holy Kabbalist Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac HaLevi (1735-1783), was a shochet and bodek in the village of Zorowitz near Przemyśl. Not much is known about his life. In the endorsements to his seforim, he is described as a hidden tzaddik and a very poor man who would seclude himself in the forests, serving God with great fervor. He wrote his books at night. The author of Brit Kehunat Olam described him saying that "during the ritual slaughter, tears would fall from his eyes."
It is told that the author once asked the Yismach Moshe (Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum), who lived near Przemyśl in his youth, to come and study the hidden secrets of the Torah with him. However, the Yismach Moshe, not yet familiar with him, declined. This refusal caused the author great distress, and before his passing, he instructed that all his Kabbalistic writings be buried with him, believing that the world was not yet worthy of them.
After the author’s passing, the Yismach Moshe deeply regretted not having studied Kabbalah with him. In an attempt to bring spiritual satisfaction to the author’s soul, he instructed that only a copy of the author’s writings be buried with him while the original manuscripts should remain and be prepared for printing. The Yismach Moshe personally oversaw their copying, editing, and printing, and it was he who ensured the publication of the sefer Raza Meheimna (according to the endorsements and introductions to the author’s works Raza Meheimna and Yesod Yitzchak, and as recounted in Tehillah LeMoshe, by Rabbi Moshe David Teitelbaum, Sziget 1906, pages 3b-4a).
According to later sources, the Baal Shem Tov himself would travel to exchange mystical secrets with the author, and once the author’s greatness and holiness became known, many flocked to him (see: M. Wunder, Encyclopedia of Galician Sages, vol. 3, pages 268-272).
Signatures and Antique Stamps: Baruch Yitzchak Lubelski (a well-known mohel from 1873-1902 in Suwałki and later in New York), Yitzchak Isaac Lubelski.
[5], 5-69 Leaves. 22.1 cm.
Overall Great condition, some water stains, title page has marginal repair, last page has repair with missing text, antique black cloth binding slightly rubbed.
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Lot #211