Mayim Chayim, Zhitomir. First Edition. With a "Letter" from the Ba'al Shem Tov. Five Title Pages! Rabbinical Copy

Mayim Chayim, Zhitomir. First Edition. With a "Letter" from the Ba'al Shem Tov. Five Title Pages! Rabbinical Copy

Mayim Chayim, Zhitomir. First Edition. With a "Letter" from the Ba'al Shem Tov. Five Title Pages!

Sefer Mayim Chayim - book of responsa by the gaon Rabbi Chaim HaKohen Rapoport, av beit din of Ostroh, whose tales of wonder together with the Ba'al Shem Tov shook the world. Two parts bound together with separate title pages. Printed by the rabbi of Slavuta's grandsons Rabbi Chanina Lipa and Rabbi Yehoshua Heschel Shapira at their press in Zhitomir, 1857. First edition. There is a rare halachic responsum from the Ba'al Shem Tov in this book, with his rare signature. Important segulah and Chassidic work.

The sefer is adorned with many approbations, including from the patriarchs of Chassidism: Rabbi Mordechai of Chernobyl, the "Sar Shalom" of Belz, and Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heschel of Apta. Book contents: Responsa on the four parts of Shulchan Aruch. In the margins: "Kuntress Otzros Chaim" (with a dedicated title page) containing Torah novellae in the order of the weekly Torah portions by the author and his family.

In Part I, siman 27, there is a question printed that was sent from Mezhibuzh to Rabbi Meir, av beis din of Constantin, son of Rabbi Ya'akov Emden - the Ya'avetz, regarding a question about scarring, and as a result of the halachic decision, which turned into a huge dispute. "Due to the size of the conflagration that resulted from it, " they turned to Rabbi Meir with the question. A description of the event opens the responsum, after which the beis din wrote, with a signature from 'Yisrael Besh"t [Ba'al Shem] of Talist' - an extraordinarily rare and early signature from the light of the seven seas, Rabbeinu Yisrael Ba'al Shem Tov. Later on is the lengthy responsum by Rabbi Meir, in which he describes the Ba'al Shem Tov: "Leader among the Jewish people ... the accomplished, exalted and famous Besh"t [Ba'al Shem] Rabbi Yisrael ..."