Shomer Tzion HaNe'eman Issues in Three Volumes - Torah Periodical Edited by the Aruch LaNer - Altona, 1846-1855 - ...

Shomer Tzion HaNe'eman Issues in Three Volumes - Torah Periodical Edited by the Aruch LaNer - Altona, 1846-1855 - Signature of Rabbi Elyakim Getschlik Schlesinger
Issues of the Shomer Tzion HaNe'eman periodical in three volumes, edited by R. Yaakov Ettlinger Rabbi of Altona - author of Aruch LaNer, and R. Shmuel Enoch. Altona, 1846-1855.
Shomer Tzion HaNe'eman was a Torah periodical, whose distinct objective was to fight the Reform movement and defend Orthodox Judaism. It was published as a bi-weekly supplement to the German-language periodical Der treue Zions-Wächter, also edited by the Aruch LaNer. The motto of the periodical appears at the top of the issue: "To raise the prestige of Torah, and to remove obstacles from the path of faith… Studies, novellae and commentaries, responsa, parables and analogies". Shomer Tzion HaNe'eman was the first of this genre of Torah periodicals, combining Torah essays with essays presenting the Torah viewpoint on current events.
The first issue of this periodical was published on 13th Tammuz / 7th July 1846. The periodical appeared for eleven years, in altogether 222 issues. The last issue was published on 24th Adar / 20th March 1857. The first volume contains the first issues, beginning from the very first one.
Vol. I - issues 1-54; Vol. II - 115 issues between 55-215 (lacking 46 issues); Vol. III - 37 duplicate issues, and the first 26 issues of the German-language periodical Der treue Zions-Wächter. A detailed list of all the issues will be sent upon request.
Altogether: 206 issues of Shomer Tzion HaNe'eman, and 26 issues of the German periodical.
The first volume contains several handwritten glosses.
Signature on the title page of the first volume: "G-d granted me this, Elyakim Getschlik Schlesinger, 1859".
R. Elyakim Getschlik Schlesinger (1813-1900), known as R. Getsch of Hamburg, was a close disciple of R. Yaakov Ettlinger, the Aruch LaNer, in the Mannheim yeshiva. When the Aruch LaNer moved to Altona to serve there as rabbi (in 1836), he relocated with his teacher as the first student of the Altona yeshiva. He served for over fifty years as dayan and teacher in the yeshiva of the Hamburg Kloiz. For a short period, he also served as rabbi of Hamburg. He was renowned as a holy man, who studied Talmud and Halacha ceaselessly, and delved extensively into Kabbalistic works. He was known as a pious and holy wonder-worker, and more than once, an ill person suddenly recovered following his visit. The epitaph on his tombstone reads: "Our master and teacher, light of Israel, pillar of Torah… the great scholar and Chassid… erudite in all realms of Torah… stood as a mast for his generation… holy and pure from birth… sat in the company of scholars in the study hall of the old and new Kloiz of our community for over 55 years…".
3 volumes. 232 issues. Size and condition vary.
Enclosed: several paper items found between the issues - Portrait of the Aruch LaNer (photograph of a lithograph); Torah letter addressed to R. Yisrael Meir Freimann, son-in-law of the Aruch LaNer, from R. Yissachar Baer Rabbi of Graudenz, Graudenz (Grudziądz), [1882]; envelope of this letter; Torah letter addressed to "R. Eli., rabbi and posek of his community", Wöllstein, 1843.
From the estate of Prof. Shlomo Simonsohn.