Ayelet HaShachar on Tractate Nedarim - Bnei Brak, 1994 - First Edition - Personal Copy of the Author, Rabbi ...

Ayelet HaShachar on Tractate Nedarim - Bnei Brak, 1994 - First Edition - Personal Copy of the Author, Rabbi Steinman - With His Signature and Glosses
Ayelet HaShachar, novellae on Tractate Nedarim, by R. Aharon Yehuda Leib Steinman. Bnei Brak, 1994. First edition.
The flyleaf bears the following inscription, handwritten by the author R. Steinman: "The books arrived on 27th Nisan 1994. Aharon Yehuda Leib Steinman, Bnei Brak, 5 Chazon Ish St.".
The book contains several glosses handwritten by R. Steinman. The glosses were recorded on pp. 54, 58, 102 (lengthy gloss) and 197. Minor emendations on pp. 39 and 56.
On the front endpaper, R. Steinman notes three of the places in which he recorded corrections.
On p. 58, R. Steinman encircled a paragraph, commenting: "The entire marked paragraph is a mistake".
This book was printed without a preface. The author's grandsons relate that when the book was published in 1994, R. Steinman had been ill and just undergone surgery, and he did not succeed in writing a preface before the book went to print. After the book was printed, R. Steinman composed his preface, in which he wrote: "In recent years I have been ill, and in His abundant kindness He has saved me, and may this book serve as my token of gratitude to Him for His great kindness". The preface was printed on its own, on a single leaf, which his grandsons photocopied and began pasting into the printed books. After a few minutes of work, Rebbetzin Tamar, the wife of R. Steinman, instructed them in her husband's name to stop pasting the preface into the books, for fear that his words "May this book serve as a token of gratitude" constitute a lie, since at the time of printing, the book had not yet been designated as his token of gratitude (memoirs of his grandson R. Avraham Berlin, in: Kovetz Gilyonot - Memorial Anthology… Marking a Year Since the Passing of Our Teacher, 2019, pp. 82, 132).
R. Steinman named his books Ayelet HaShachar, which is an acronym for his and his wife's names: Aharon Yehuda Leib Tamar.
R. Aharon Yehuda Leib Steinman (1914-2017), a leader of Orthodox Jewry and president of the Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah (rabbinical council) of the Degel HaTorah movement. He was considered the leader of the Lithuanian Torah world during the past twenty years. Born in Brisk, Lithuania, R. Aharon Leib studied in Lithuanian yeshivot, were he was a close disciple of the leading Torah scholars of Brisk - R. Simcha Zelig Rieger (who accorded him his rabbinical ordination), and R. Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik (the Brisker Rav). For fear of conscription to the Polish army, he fled to Switzerland in the summer 1938, together with his friend, R. Moshe Soloveitchik, where they studied and taught in the Montreux yeshiva. This move on the eve of the Holocaust later proved to have been his providential salvation, and had tremendous impact on the establishment of the Torah world of today.
Upon his immigration to Eretz Israel, he was appointed dean of the Chafetz Chaim yeshiva in Kfar Saba by recommendation of the Chazon Ish, who held him in high esteem and would even stand up in his honor. In 1955, he was appointed by R. Kahaneman as dean of the Ponevezh yeshiva for young boys, and ten years later, he began concurrently serving as head of the Ponevezh Kollel. He later established other Torah institutions, standing at their helm, and spending his entire life disseminating Torah to the multitudes.
In 1989, with the establishment of the Degel HaTorah political party, he was appointed to its rabbinical council by R. Elazar Shach. This increased his influence in the community, especially regarding educational matters. Upon the passing of R. Shach in 2002, he was recognized as his successor in the leadership of the Lithuanian Torah world, alongside R. Yosef Shalom Elyashiv. From his modest apartment on Chazon Ish St. in Bnei Brak, he faithfully led the Torah world, and guided its many institutions with dedication and care. He became the central address for advice and guidance, for individuals as well as institutions and yeshivot, and the challenging problems of the generation were addressed to him. He concerned himself personally with the wellbeing of thousands of individual students as well as many yeshivot and institutions by raising colossal sums from philanthropists worldwide. He passed away on the day before Chanukah 2017, at the age of 104, and his funeral was attended by hundreds of thousands.
206 pages. 23.5 cm. Overall good condition. Original binding.