Pe'at HaShulchan. Beck Press. Safed, 1836. First Edition. Corrections in an Early Script

Pe'at HaShulchan. Beck Press. Safed, 1836. First Edition. Corrections in an Early Script

Sefer Pe'at HaShulchan - the important work by Rabbi Yisrael of Shklov, a leading disciple of the Gr"a and one of the leaders of this group's ascent to the Land of Israel. He is known by the name of this sefer, as the author of Pe'at HaShulchan. The sefer deals with the laws of the Land of Israel, compiled from the words of the Tana'im and the Rishonim, per the text of the Gr"a and his halachic doctrine. Safed, Yisrael Beck Press. 1836. First edition.

The sefer is adorned by approbations from rabbis of Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias, Damascus and Baghdad, and an approbation from Rabbi Moshe Sofer, author of Chatam Sofer; Rabbi Avraham Abele Fosswaller, av beit din of Vilna; and others. Rabbi Yisrael of Shklov's historic foreword opens the sefer with a description of his rabbi, the Gr"a; the ascent of the Perushim to the Land of Israel after the Gr"a's passing, and the suffering they endured. Important introduction for historic and scholarly research of the Gr"a and the aliyah of the Perushim.

This is one of the first seven sefarim printed by Beck in the Land of Israel (in Safed). The sefer was printed after a delay due to the looting by the rebels in Safed in 1934. (In Av, 1934, there were already several printed kuntressim in the Chata"m Sofer's hands.) In his foreword, Rabbi Yisrael of Shklov details the riots, and describes the destruction of the press by the rioters. Comparison of the letters demonstrates: The first five leaves and from leaf 94 onward were printed after the looting. The remainder of the papers were printed before the plundering. The publisher, R' Shemayah b"r Yissachar Ber Segal, was killed a year later during the great earthquake (1837) that destroyed Safed. (Refer to: Shoshanah HaLevi, Sifrei Yerushalayim HaRishonim 1976, p. 19, note 28; Reshito Shel HaDefus, Parashiyot Bereishit 1989, p. 54; Meir Benayahu,  Beit Defuso shel Yisrael Beck BiTzefat, 1966, p. 275.)

Page 12b and page 84a bear corrections in an early script, from close to the period of printing. (These revisions do not appear in the table of errata at the end of the volume.) The title page and the last leaf likewise bear signatures by R' Shmuel Gershon Lipkin, one of the prominent Chaba"d Chassidim in the city of patriarchs, Chevron.

Forcibly drafted into the Turkish army and sent into the World War, he passed away in 1917 in Damascus. His son, Rabbi Yehoshua, accompanied the Admo"r the Rayya"tz on his journey to the Holy Land.

[5], 2-109, [1] leaf, 30 cm.

Moderate condition. Worming perforations. Adhesions in the inner margins of the leaves and other places. Tears with lack and minor wear in the margins of several leaves, some completed with pasted paper. Restored tears in the margins of the title page, without damage to the text. Not bound.