Novellae on Talmudic Topics Handwritten by Rabbi Meir Ma'arim, Av Beit Din of Kobrin, Author of 'Nir' on the ...

Novellae on Talmudic Topics Handwritten by Rabbi Meir Ma'arim, Av Beit Din of Kobrin, Author of 'Nir' on the Yerushalmi. Signed Autograph
Huge bundle of [approximately 500] pages of novellae on Talmudic topics in the hand of the gaon Rabbi Meir Ma'arim, Av Beit Din of Kobrin, author of the Nir on the Yerushalmi. The author signed his name at the top of one of the leaves "Amar Ma'arim."

The manuscript includes: novellae on tractates; novellae on Shas; some Torah letters and responsa; passages from his works: Lula'ot and Nir; primarily novellae on topics in the Ramba"m and the Shulchan Aruch. Rabbi Meir Ma'arim's being a Chassidic gaon bursts forth from between the sections of the manuscript. It is moving to read the short opening words he noted at the beginning of his novellae, full of modesty and devotion. Here are several examples: "From You, Hash-m, Master of abilities, from You I request and from You I require, please Hash-m, illuminate me and save me from mistakes, because my desire is to study gemara in depth"; or "From You, Hash-m, Master of all wisdom, I implore you to illuminate my mind with the elucidation of the topic 'Bittul'"; "I implore Hash-m to shine the light of wisdom on me"; at the beginning of the novellae on sanctification of Hash-m's Name, he wrote: "The law of sanctification of the Name of Hash-m, the Great, the Honorable, and the Awesome."

Before us are thousands of novellae from one of the geonim of the earlier generations whose novellae are studied with admiration by all those who study the Talmud Yerushlami.

The novellae before us have never been printed and are the only copy in the world.

Rabbi Meir Ma'arim Shafit [1800-1873] was a rabbi, an adjudicator, a Chassid of Slonim, one of the leading Chassidic rabbis. He is known primarily as a commentator on the Jerusalem Talmud, due to his books Nir and Lula'ot. When he was just 15(!) years old, he was appointed rabbi of Meicht, and thus became one of the youngest rabbis in the world. After Meicht, he served in the towns and cities of Vishneva; Yakobovitch, Latvia; Shvintzion, next to Vilna; until his appointment to the rabbinate of Kobrin. R' Eizel Charif honored him for his composition on the Talmud Yerushalmi, and would call him "Tanna Yerushalma'a, " - this despite his being a sharp opponent of Chassidism, and he would criticize well-known rabbis, and Rabbi Meir Ma'arim's inclination to the Chassidic movement. Rabbi Meir Ma'arim was a Chassid of Rabbis Mordechai and Noach of Lechwich, and of Rabbi Moshe of Kobrin. After the rabbi of Kobrin's passing, he devoted himself to the "Yesod Ha'Avodah" of Slonim. In his engagement contract, the Admo"r Rabbi Yitzchak of Nezkizh wrote of him, "the gaon, the tzaddik." Aside from his Torah genius, as Rabbi M. Ch. Kleinman attested in his book Ohr Yesharim (Warsaw, 1924): He was a most wondrous and lofty tzaddik in his sanctified ways, perfect in his lofty character. He received all people with a pleasant countenance, offered assistance to the poor and poverty-stricken, and lent a hand to all in straits and distress, as the people of Kobrin will testify; he conducted himself with humility in Divine ways. His leading disciples included Rabbi Shmuel Salant and Rabbi Ya'akov David Wilovsky - the Ridba"z.

[Approximately 500] pages. About 18x22 cm. Separate leaves. Moderate condition. Aging stains. Worming perforations and damage. Not bound.

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