Be'er Ya'akov, Furth 1767 – Signature of the Kabbalist Rabbi Nathan Adler of Frankfurt

Be'er Ya'akov, on the four parts of the Shulchan Aruch and rules of the treatises. By Rabbi Ya'akov Berlin. Furth, 1767. Many signatures and ownership inscriptions on title page: signature of "Nathan ben Rabbi Ya'akov Shimon Adler the Cohen Tzedek" and ownership inscriptions that the book belongs to Rabbi Nathan Adler of Frankfurt am Main. More inscriptions in the Oriental writing of Rabbi Ezra Chiya Lachmi and Rabbi Yosef Rachamim Lachmi and a ownership inscription signed by Rabbi Me'at Dvash [Rabbi David ben Shimon] who bought the book from the Maharash Lachmi. Rabbi Nathan HaCohen Adler (1741-1800) was born in Frankfurt am Main to his father Rabbi Ya'akov Shimon Adler. He was an outstanding Torah scholar and had vast knowledge of kabbalah. He headed the yeshiva he established in his home in Frankfurt and was the close teacher of Rabbi Moshe Sofer author of the Chatam Sofer who mentions his teacher frequently in his books on Halacha and on kabbalah calling him "My close teacher, the famed pious Torah genius the great 'eagle'" ["eagle" is a poetic phrase using the meaning of the name Adler], "My teacher, the pious Cohen", etc. Rabbi Adler was pursued by people who lived in his city which caused him great suffering. They even prohibited him to establish a minyan in his Beit Midrash which was based on his special kabbalistic customs. For a while, he served as Av Beit Din of Boskovice but afterwards he returned to his home and his Beit Midrash in Frankfurt. The rabbis of the Lachmi family – several renowned rabbis of the Lachmi family served as emissaries of Eretz Israel Jews: Rabbi Shalom Lachmi, his son Rabbi Ezra Chiya Lachmi who served as emissary in Egypt and in Tunis (author of the manuscript Sha'arei Ezra – see Zechor L'Avraham, 1996, pp. 93-96, L'Kdoshim Asher Ba'Aretz, Entries 235 and 481) and Rabbi Yosef Rachamim Lachmi. The last signatory, Me’at Dvash – Rabbi David ben Shimon (1826-1879) was born in Morocco and ascended to Jerusalem in 1855 where he established the Ma'aravim community (immigrants from Maghreb North Africa) where he had previously served as rabbi. He authored: Sha'arei Tzedek and more books. His son is Rabbi Refael Aharon Ben-Shimon, the Chief Rabbi of Alexandria in Egypt. [3], 144 leaves, 29.5 cm. Good-fair condition, worm damages, spotting and wear, old binding from Jerusalem in the 19th century, with leather spine. Enclosed is an authorization by an expert identifying the signature as that of Rabbi Nathan Adler.