Simlah Chadasha – Signatures of the Netziv of Volozhin

Simlah Chadasha – Signatures of the Netziv of Volozhin
Simlah Chadasha, Tevu'ot Shor and Bechor Shor. Sudilkov, [1820].
Four early signatures of Rabbi "Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin". And various handwritten inscriptions from 1857.
Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin – the Netziv of Volozhin (1817-1893), one of the outstanding Torah leaders of his times, son-in-law of Rabbi Yitzchak of Volozhin and his successor as head of the yeshiva for decades. Wrote many books: Ha'amek She'ela, novellae on the She'iltot; Ha'amek Davar on the Torah; Meshiv Davar responsa, novellae on the Talmud and commentaries on Midreshei Halacha – Mechilta, Sifrei and Sifra. Father of Rabbi Chaim Berlin and father-in-law of Rabbi Refael Shapira. His son-in-law's son-in-law is Rabbi Chaim HaLevi Soloveitchik of Brisk.
The Netziv used to sign his name connecting the words Zvi and Yehuda using the letter Yud for both names. This custom once saved his life. People who were opposed to his yeshiva informed on him to the secret police and presented forged letters as evidence that he received counterfeit coins from England and distributed them in the local market. They brought a letter all in the Netziv's handwriting. The forgery was so superior that even the Netziv admitted that it was his handwriting but that he did not write the content. After an investigation, it became clear that the signature of the Netziv in the forgery had the letter Yud written twice and the Netziv always signed Zvi Yehuda with one Yud connecting both words, and this was how the falsehood came to light.
166 leaves. 33.5 cm. Blue paper. Fair condition. Moth holes and wear. Ancient binding.