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Judaica and Hasidic Books and Manuscripts

Lot 21:

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Rare Early 19th-Century Ethical Composite Volume: Yoreh Chata'im (Lemberg, 1837) & Standalone Divrei Kevushin by Rabbi Elazar Azikri (Russia-Poland, c. 1830s)

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Start price: £300

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Description

This exceptional composite lot brings together two highly influential 19th-century ethical pocket works bound into a single volume, representing the unique printing world of Eastern European Jewry.


  • Book 1: Sefer Yoreh Chata’im (ספר יורה חטאים) A foundational ethical text compiling the stringent moral rulings, customs, and safeguards of the great Rishon, Rabbi Yehuda HeChasid (רבי יהודה חסיד זצ"ל, d. 1217), author of Sefer Chasidim. The title page bears a historic purple ownership stamp from the Old Yishuv: Yitzchak Meir Markowitz, Safed, Palestine. The printing year is encoded in the title chronogram as למען תל"ך בדר"ך טובים, calculating exactly to תקצ"ז (1837), printed in Lemberg (Lwów).
  • Book 2: Sefer Divrei Kevushin (ספר דברי כבושין): An incredibly rare, standalone 20-page printing of the celebrated treatise on repentance and personal holiness by the towering Safed Kabbalist Rabbi Elazar Azikri (רבי אליעזר אזקרי זצ"ל, 1533–1600), author of Sefer Charedim. Published anonymously without a primary title page as originally issued, this specialized booklet was produced under tight imperial surveillance in the Russia-Poland borderlands during the 1830s to serve as a practical manual for the High Holiday season. This specific standalone edition is of the utmost scarcity.

Notable Connection: This volume bridges the medieval ascetic tradition of Ashkenaz with the Golden Age of Safed Kabbalah. Both works served as baseline spiritual manuals for European Jewry. The presence of the vintage Safed library stamp documents a fascinating historical full-circle: a booklet penned originally in Safed by Rabbi Elazar Azikri was printed centuries later as a rare manual in Europe, only to migrate back to the holy city of Safed where it was studied and preserved.