Manuscript, Novellae on Tractates Bava Batra, Chullin and Shevuot - Handwritten by Rabbi Mordechai Efraim Fishel ...

Manuscript, Novellae on Tractates Bava Batra, Chullin and Shevuot - Handwritten by Rabbi Mordechai Efraim Fishel Sofer of Pressburg, Leading Disciple of the Chatam Sofer - With Many Torah Thoughts from Rabbi David Deutsch, Author of Ohel David - Unpublished Novellae - Gattendorf, Austria - 1800s
Manuscript, novellae on Tractates Bava Batra, Chullin and Shevuot, handwritten and signed by R. Mordechai Efraim Fishel Sofer of Pressburg. A large part of the manuscript is comprised of novellae which he heard from R. David Deutsch, the Ohel David. "Koton Dorf" [=Gattendorf, Austria, early 1800s].
The title page states: "This notebook belongs to the student Mordechai Fishel Pollack son of R. Eliezer Sussman, residing in the town of Koton Dorf". Under the word "Pollack", the name "Sofer" was added between the lines. Under the words "Koton Dorf", a comment was added in a different handwriting: "Like its name it is" (i.e. it is indeed a small town).
An additional signature of the writer R. Fishel Sofer appears on p. 17b: "I wrote this in honor of the Torah, Mordechai Fishel of Wodzisław in New Galicia(?), capital of Poland".
This manuscript was written by the author in his youth. The first part of the manuscript (leaves 1-18) contains the author's novellae on the first three chapters of tractate Bava Batra, and the second part (leaves 30-47) consists of the author's novellae on tractates Chullin and Shevuot.
The second part was written while he was studying in the yeshiva of R. David Deutsch, author of Ohel David, in the early 1800s. This part contains dozens of novellae which the writer heard from R. David Deutsch. The following heading appears at the beginning of the second part: "That which I heard from my teacher on Tractate Chullin" (p. 30a). Another heading: "Tractate Shevuot, folio 3, in the name of my teacher, R. David" (p. 42a). When quoting questions and answers by R. David, he writes "And my teacher raises the difficulty", "and my teacher resolved". Some of these novellae from R. David on tractate Shevuot were published in his book Ohel David on Tractate Shevuot (Pressburg 1835; see enclosed material). However, some of the novellae quoted here in the name of R. David were not published there. Furthermore, none of the novellae quoted in the name of R. David on Tractate Chullin were printed in his book on Chullin (Ungvar, 1867).
This part also includes novellae which R. David gave over in the name of his teachers, the Noda BiYehuda and Maharam Barby (sometimes referred to in the manuscript as "Maram Barby" or "M.H.B."), as well as a thought from R. Avraham Broda (p. 31a). Novellae from rabbis and students of the yeshiva, such as R. David Mattersdorf and R. Leibush of Wodzisław, are also recorded here.
The manuscript was passed down as an inheritance to the descendants of the author, and they added their signatures and inscriptions.
An old piece of paper was pasted on the verso of the title page, stating: "I, the writer, Moshe Avraham son of R. Eliezer Sussman Sofer Rabbi of Hallasch and the vicinity. I wrote… on Motzaei Shabbat Parashat Teruma, 7th Adar 1881".
On p. 6a: "Yehuda Sofer, son of R. Sussman Eliezer Sofer". A beautiful thought in the name of the Chatam Sofer is recorded on p. 8a, in a different handwriting to the rest of the manuscript - presumably handwritten by the grandson R. Yehuda Sofer.
On the front endpaper: "1940, belongs to Yosef Shmuel Sofer of Tét".
R. Mordechai Efraim Fishel Sofer of Pressburg (1786?-1843, HaChatam Sofer VeTalmidav, pp. 337-340), born in Wodzisław, Poland to R. Eliezer Sussman, who worked as a sofer. In ca. 1790s, his father moved with the family from Poland to Hungary, and settled in a small village named Gattendorf, near Pressburg. As indicated at the beginning of this manuscript, R. Mordechai Efraim Fishel was dubbed "Pollack" in his childhood, in reference to his Polish origins. He later adopted the name of his father's profession - Sofer. In ca. 1798, at the age of 12, his father sent him to Mattersdorf to study under the Chatam Sofer, and since then, he spent the next 42 years in close proximity to his teacher. R. Fishel Sofer was one of the greatest, most prominent, and closest disciples of the Chatam Sofer. He was attached to the Chatam Sofer with a profound emotional bond, and would frequent his teacher's house every single day, both to visit him and be seen by him. Reputedly, R. Fishel Sofer would state that gazing upon his teacher's countenance saves him from sin. Conversely, the Chatam Sofer would attest that on a day he doesn’t see his disciple, "he senses a deficiency in his spiritual level". Though he was offered prominent rabbinic positions, R. Fishel declined them on his teacher's advice, and remained in Pressburg his entire life, disseminating Torah. R. Fishel was an expert Talmud educator, and trained many of the Pressburg yeshiva students to be on par with the high scholastic level of the yeshiva. The Chatam Sofer sent his sons the Ketav Sofer and the Michtav Sofer to study under him. The foreword of Derashot Chatam Sofer states that in 1820 and 1821, the Chatam Sofer did not record his novellae in Aggadah, and instead his disciple R. Fishel Sofer wrote down what he had heard from his teacher. His teacher relied on his notes, and even proofread them and added his handwritten comments in the margins. R. Fishel spent most of his life under his prime teacher the Chatam Sofer, except for one Zman in which his teacher sent him to study in the yeshiva of his colleague R. David Deutsch, author of Ohel David, who served at the time as rabbi of Szerdahely. This was presumably in the early 1800s. R. Mordechai Fishel relates to this period in his will: "I had the merit of studying in the Beit Midrash of my teacher, master of the entire Jewish people, light of the Diaspora [the Chatam Sofer], I did not cease studying under him my entire life until his passing, apart from one Zman in which I went to study in the yeshiva of R. David Deutsch, under his advice and directive". This manuscript contains the novellae which R. Mordechai Fishel heard from R. David during that Zman, on tractates Chullin and Shevuot, with the addition of his own novellae.
R. Moshe Avraham Sofer (1866?-1938, HaChatam Sofer VeTalmidav, p. 601) was the son of R. Eliezer Sussman Sofer Rabbi of Hallasch (Kiskunhalas) and Paks (son of R. Fishel Sofer - author of the present manuscript). He was a disciple of the Shevet Sofer and an outstanding Torah scholar. He lived in Pápa, Hallasch and Csorna.
R. Yehuda Sofer (1868-1913, HaChatam Sofer VeTalmidav, p 572) was the son of R. Eliezer Sussman Sofer Rabbi of Hallasch and Paks (son of R. Fishel Sofer - author of the present manuscript). He was a disciple of the Shevet Sofer. He served as rabbi of Karlburg and Nagyszentmiklós, and from 1905, as rabbi of Arad. He published his father's book Midrash Mispar (Paks 1912), with his own additions entitled Mateh Yehuda.
The student Yosef Shmuel Sofer (perished in the Holocaust, 1944), son of R. Yitzchak Tzvi Sofer of Sopron, son of R. Avraham Yaakov Rabbi of Tét, son of R. Yisrael Mordechai Efraim Fishel Rabbi of Sárvár, son of R. Eliezer Sussman Rabbi of Hallasch and Paks, son of R. Fishel Sofer - author of the present manuscript.
[1], 1-49, 52-61, [1] leaves (including some blank leaves. 56 written pages). 21 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains and wear. Marginal tears to some leaves, occasionally affecting text. Old binding.