Manuscript, Kevod Elim – Handwritten by the Author, R. Michael Dov Weingott Rabbi of Piotrków – Mostly Unpublished ...

Manuscript, Kevod Elim – Handwritten by the Author, R. Michael Dov Weingott Rabbi of Piotrków – Mostly Unpublished Composition – Correspondence with Leading Torah Scholars – Częstochowa and Piotrków, Mid-19th Century
Manuscript – Kevod Elim, novellae on Tractate Shabbat and on various topics in Halacha and Aggada, handwritten and signed by the author R. Michael Dov Weingott Rabbi of Piotrków, Dobrzyń and Łowicz. [Częstochowa and Piotrków Kujawski, Poland, 1848-1856].
Handwritten by the author, with many emendations, glosses, additions and deletions.
This manuscript contains novellae on Tractate Shabbat and other tractates, and on many and varied topics in Halacha and Aggada. Includes homilies and correspondence with leading Polish Torah scholars of the author's times.
The front endpaper states: "Kevod Elim, Part I" - "Michael Dov son of R. Yissachar". The same page also contains an index arranged in the order of the Talmudic tractates and parts of the Shulchan Aruch, with reference to the leaves of the manuscript containing novellae on that tractate or part of Shulchan Aruch. On verso of this leaf, a section of the preface to the book, opening with the words: "So says the author". The preface is not complete.
Large parts of this composition were never published. Some sections serve as a preliminary version of the author's novellae published in his book Agudot Ezov Midbari (Piotrków 1879), mostly concentrated in the first 26 leaves of this manuscript, which comprise a preliminary version of the novellae pertaining to Tractate Shabbat, ff. 130-136 (on the topic of circumcision on Shabbat).
The manuscript contains many novellae which the author heard from leading Polish Torah scholars of that time, including R. Eliyahu Ragoler Rabbi of Kalish; R. Meir Auerbach Rabbi of Koil, author of Imrei Bina and later one of the leading rabbis of Jerusalem; R. Yosef Yoske Shapiro Rabbi of Lesla; R. Moshe Yehuda Leib Silberberg Rabbi of Lask and Kutno, author of Zayit Raanan; R. Shlomo Leib Morgenstern Rabbi of Lunshitz, author of Minchat HaBoker; and others.
In many instances, the author quotes novellae from his father R. Yissachar Weingott Rabbi of Częstochowa, author of Pitchei She'arim. His father is sometimes mentioned with the blessing for the living, and sometimes as having passed away. R. Yissachar passed away in Elul 1852.
R. Michael Dov Weingott (1819-1887), a leading Polish Torah scholar in his times, from a distinguished rabbinic family in Poland, son of R. Yissachar Weingott author of Pitchei She'arim. He was the close disciple of R. Eliyahu Ragoler Rabbi of Kalish. He served as rabbi of Piotrków Kujawski, Dobrzyń and Łowicz. He authored Agudot Ezov Midbari (Piotrków 1879) – responsa on all four parts of Shulchan Aruch, and novellae on Tractates Shabbat and Eruvin. He corresponded extensively with the leading Torah scholars of his generation, including his colleague R. Meir Auerbach, author of Imrei Bina. He copied some of this correspondence in this manuscript. In his preface to Agudot Ezov Midbari, he mentions this composition: "I chose responsum novellae and halachic analyses following the order of the parts of Shulchan Aruch, and novellae on Tractate Shabbat, Chapter R. Eliezer DeMila, which G-d granted me when studying in 1845 and 1846, following the urging of my late father, and I organized them in 1850…". As mentioned, some of this manuscript is a preliminary version of the printed edition.
The places of writing mentioned in the manuscript are Częstochowa and Piotrków. On p. 12a, he writes: "When I came here to Częstochowa, I saw that the mohelim practice…", and p. 46a contains a transcript of a responsum sent to him, in which he is addressed as rabbi of Piotrków.
The dates mentioned in the manuscript are 1848 (p. 68a), 1849 (p. 46a) and 1856 (p. 91a). A marginal note on p. 50a reads: "That which I innovated in 1838 from mid-Sivan, until the summer of 1839".
Two additional leaves handwritten by the author were found between the pages of the manuscript.
[1], 111 leaves (approx. 220 written pages). 30.5 cm. Good condition. Stains and wear. Worming. Wax stains on p. 32a. Original binding.