Oneg L'Shabbat - Jerusalem, 1913 - Dedication of the Author Rabbi Matityahu Gargi, Rabbi of the Afghan Community ...

Oneg L'Shabbat - Jerusalem, 1913 - Dedication of the Author Rabbi Matityahu Gargi, Rabbi of the Afghan Community, to his Son Rabbi Yosef Melamed Gargi - Many Handwritten Comments
Sefer Oneg L'Shabbat. Jerusalem, 1913. First edition. Extremely rare. The book includes three sections, each of which has a special title page:
Oneg L'Shabbat - Commentary on the Parshiot of the Torah.
Tehillot L'David - Commentary on the Book of Tehillim.
Beit HaMikdash - Commentary on the Mishnayot.
In addition to these works the article "The life of the Holy Great Rabbi Chida".
The commentaries brought in the sections of the book were collected by Rabbi Matityahu Gargi, the admired rabbi of the Jewish community in Afghanistan, from the works of several great scholars, and mainly from the Chida, from Midrash Shochar Tov and from Rabbi Immanuel Chai Riki. Some of the commentaries are according to the simple meaning and some according to the Kabbala.
The book has approbations from the great Sephardi rabbis in Israel: Rabbi Yaakov Shaul Elyashar, Rabbi Nachman Batito, Rabbi Eliyahu Moshe Panigel and Rabbi Eliyahu Mani, the Rabbi of Hebron.
In his introduction to the book and afterword of the book the author brings his own novaelle on the topic of aggadot and penimiyut HaTorah.
At the end of the book is the article "Korot Zemanim", in which the author describes his life story in detail in chronological order (later printed at greater length in his book which is called "Korot Zemanim").
On the second page of the book is a printed version of the author's dedication. In the designated place he filled in by hand a dedication to his son, Rabbi Yosef Melamed Gargi, "Ben Porat Yosef", "that he and his sons and all of his descendants should merit to learn and to teach…". Rabbi Yoef Melamed, as is printed on the title page, is the one who edited and published the book.
On the title page Rabbi Yosef Melamed inscribed in his handwriting: "we came to the holy city before Pesach of 1911. May it be His will that we will merit to many pleasant years. Us and our children and our childrens' children for His service and His fear with easiness and success. HTZV"I Yosef Melamed son of Matitya here in the holy city of Jerusalem, the year of 'and gird me with joy'". "A gift from my father and teacher Rabbi Matitya". And he wrote various numerical values.
Throughout the book are various comments in Rabbi Yosef Melamed's handwriting, in which he corrected and edited certain words, and mainly added his own novaelle and pleasant commentaries to the commentaries that his father brought. The glosses and the comments are mainly according to the hidden level of the Torah, and include numerical values and hints. Some of them are written in ink and some in pencil. On the first page on which he commented, he wrote: "Eshe"l gim[atriya] Ani Yosef Melamed"
After the death of Rabbi Yosef Melamed Gargi, his son, Rabbi Binyamin Gargi (who published his father's work "Edut B'Yehosef"), inherited the book. This copy served him in the preparation of a new edition of the book for publishing. Enclosed in the book is a note in his handwriting on which are the plans for the page format of the new edition and notes of the additions that it will contain (amongst them: "recommendation of the Chief Rabbi Rabbi Ovadiah", "A photograph of the author" and more). Throughout the book are various notes which testify to Rabbi Binyamin Gargi's communal activities.
The author, Chacham Mula Matitya Gargi (1845-1917) was the rabbi of the Jewish community of Herat in Afghanistan. He was born to a family of rabbanim from the marranos of Mashhad who emigrated to the city in 1840 in order to return to their Judaism. He immigrated to Jerusalem on foot in 1906 and settled in Jerusalem in the Bukharan Quarter. In 1908 he was appointed as the rabbi of the Bukharan and Afghani communities in the city. He was known for his great piety and holiness.
Chacham Yosef Melamed Gargi (1869-1937) was born in Herat. He learned most of his Torah from his father. He was fluent in the hidden and revealed Torah, knew the wisdom of speechmaking, was a mohel, shochet and cantor. In 1903 he wanted to immigrate to Israel. On his way he passed through the city of Merv in Bukhara, where there was a large Jewish community. Its leaders requested from him to be their rabbi. He agreed, and served as their rabbi for seven years.
In 1911, three years after his father immigrated to Israel, Chacham Yosef Gargi also immigrated to Israel. His only book is "Eidot B'Yehosef" - Commentaries and Derashot on the Book of Tehillim. The book was published in Jerusalem in 1926 and received the approbation of Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld.
The synagogue in the Bukharan Quarter of Jerusalem was named after him. Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef wrote about him in his approbation to the second edition of the book "Eidut B'Yehosef" "I merited in my childhood to know him as a man of distinction, a ladder based on the ground whose head reaches the Heavens, and behaves with piety".
17, 209, 36, [2] pages.
Condition: Very Good. On the first pages there are small tears in the margins. Stickings on a few pages.