Full List of Poland’s Donors

By COLlive reporter in New York

Sepher HaZikaron HaZahav, the “Golden Memory Book” of Yeshivas Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch in Poland will be available for public viewing before being auctioned off in New York on October 27.

Printed in gilt with manuscript additions in a fine, thick calligraphic Hebrew hand, its estimate by Kestenbaum & Company’s Fall auction of Fine Judaica is between $5,000 – 7,000.

The book records names of donors in aid of the central Yeshiva of Lubavitch established by the 5th Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi Shalom Dov-Ber Schneerson in 1897.

Following the Communist Revolution in 1917, the Yeshiva was forced underground. When his son and successor Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson left the USSR in 1927, the Yeshiva was re-established in Warsaw and in the neighboring town of Otwock.

This large record-book printed in 1936 documents the various methods of fund-rasing on behalf of the Yeshiva and the services the donors can be expected to received based on their degree of philanthropy, COLlive was told.

A representative of Kestenbaum & Co. says the volume is of great interest due to the many names of donors recorded, stemming from across the globe, including: Canada (Montreal and Calgary), England (Manchester and Liverpool), Finland (Helsingfors), Scotland (Edinburgh and Glasgow), Switzerland, etc.

The United States is well represented by cities such as Chicago, Philadelphia, Rochester, Williamsport, New Haven, Hartford, Providence, Syracuse, Greensboro, Dallas and others.

Names of note (from a list of 80 names) include: Reb Morechai Dubin of Riga, Rabbi Abraham Elya Axelrod of Baltimore, Felix Warburg of New York and Prof. Waldemar (Mordechai) Haffkine.

Families recorded include: Cunin, Gurarie, Jacobson, Kramer, Plotkin, Rivkin, Schayevitz, Schmerling, Shmotkin and Zalmanov. Also recorded are the names of those who sponsored the donors – including Red Yitzchak Horowitz (known as R. Itche der Masmid).

OTHER CHABAD ITEMS

Other Chabad related material in the auction includes the following:

Lot 80: Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi. Sepher Tanya. The Second Printed Edition. Printed in Zolkiew by Mordechai Rabinstein, in the year 1799. Auction Estimate: $8,000 – 10,000.

It is the second edition of the fundamental exposition of Chabad Chassidism – containing the first appearance of the third section of the Tanya, “Igereth HaTeshuvah.” This Zolkiew edition so radically differs from the revised version printed subsequently in Shklov in 1806, that Chassidim refer to this edition as the “first draft” or “Igereth HaTeshuvah – Mahadura Kama.”

Lot 83: Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi. Likutei Torah. The First Printed Edition. With: Hosaphoth LeSepher Likutei Torah: Haskamoth, Kitzurim VeLu’ach HaTikun (First Printed Edition). Printed in Zhitomir by Chanina Lipa, Aryeh Leib and Joshua Heschel Shapiro, grandsons of the Rabbi of Slavuta, in the years 1848 and 1851. Auction Estimate: $3,000 – 5,000

R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), referred to affectionately as the “Alter Rebbe” (“Old Rabbi”), founded the Chabad movement, a text-oriented school of Chassidism, demanding of its adherents rigorous attention to scholarly detail.

According to the title, the book Likutei Torah was brought to press by two sons of R. Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch (author Responsa Tzemach Tzedek): R. Judah Leib (later of Kopyst) and R. Chaim Shneur Zalman (later of Liadi). R. Shneur Zalman’s discourses on Genesis, Exodus and the Scroll of Esther had been issued earlier (Kopyst, 1837) under the title “Torah Or.”

The obvious difference in length between the two productions, Torah Or and Likutei Torah, is due to the fact that the latter has grafted onto it a sizable amount of material from the Author’s grandson, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch (1789-1866), who is known for his extreme prolificity. His remarks are distinguished by encyclopedic knowledge and breadth, with copious references to the entire rabbinic and kabbalistic literature.

The third volume of Hosaphoth contains the Haskamoth of Rabbis Baruch Mordechai [Ettinga] of Bobroisk, Yitzchak Eizik Halevi Epstein of Homel, Yitzchak Eizik of Vitebsk and Hillel Halevi [Malisov] of Paritch [later of Bobroisk].

Lot 352: Leading the offerings in the Manuscripts Section of the sale is an extensive hand-written Siddur of almost 600 pages, according to the meditations of the Ari-Zal Rabbi Isaac Luria and written in 1732: “Siddur Mu’atak MiKithvei Ha-Ari Zal…She-liket…HaRav Chaim Vital…Tephiloth Chol, Shalosh Regalim, Yamim Nora’im.” Auction Estimate: $20,000-25,000.

AUCTION INFO

Kestenbaum & Company’s Fall auction of Fine Judaica will take place on Wednesday, October 27th at 1pm at the firm’s Manhattan gallery located at 242
West 30th Street.

Viewing beforehand will be held from Sunday, October 24th through Tuesday, October 26th.

The extensive sale of Hebrew Printed Books, Manuscripts and Graphic Art also features an Exceptional Rabbinic Autograph Letters from a Private Collector.

For further information relating to bidding or any other queries, call Jackie Insel at 212-366-1197 or visit Kestenbaum.net for the full auction-catalogue.