Leaf with Handwritten Inscriptions - Rabbi Yoel Baal Shem of Zamość and His Son Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh

Leaf with Handwritten Inscriptions - Rabbi Yoel Baal Shem of Zamość and His Son Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh
Endpaper of a book, with many handwritten inscriptions in early Ashkenazic script. [Typical of the early 18th century].
On one side of the leaf, inscription (appears to be a signature): "Tzvi Hirsh son of the renowned R. Yoel Baal Shem Tov of Zamość, scribe of the Zamość community". Additional inscriptions in the upper part of the same page: "Yoel Heilprin" (twice) and "Tzvi Heilprin" (no other signatures or handwritten text were found for comparison). At the foot of the page, an inscription mentioning: "The renowned R. Yaakov Yehoshua of Kraków, rabbi and yeshiva dean in Berlin".
On the verso of the leaf, additional inscription of "Tzvi Hirsh son of R. Yoel Heilprin…", and the text of a contract dated 27th Tammuz 1746, with various signatories (whom we were not able to identify): "Elazar of Kraków", "Yehoshua Moshe, author of Pnei Yehoshua, of Prague", "Yosef Yozel of Kraków, who is laden with the burden of the country of Lithuania, signing here in Brody on market day…", "Chaim son of R. Yaakov Yehoshua of Kraków".
The leaf also contains other inscriptions, scribbles and pen trials.
In Chabad-Chassidic literature, it is written about the kabbalists R. Yoel Baal Shem I of Zamość, and his grandson R. Yoel Baal Shem II of Zamość, that they belonged to the "company of hidden men" - kabbalists named "Baal Shem", from which the Chassidic movement emerged.
R. Yoel Baal Shem I of Zamość - R. Yoel son of R. Yitzchak Eizik Heilprin (d. 1713), renowned kabbalist and wonder-worker who lived at the time of the 1648-1649 Chmielnicki massacres, and served as rabbi of various prominent Polish communities, including Zamość, Lviv and others. In 1692, he succeeded R. Naftali Katz as rabbi of Ostroh. He was a member of the Council of Four Lands and the Council of Lithuanian Rabbis. A kabbalist and wonder-worker, he dealt in practical kabbalah and earned the renown of a Baal Shem throughout Podolia. Wondrous accounts of barren women who conceived, ill people who recovered, dybbukim exorcised and salvation from other destructive elements are retold about him. Books of practical kabbalah published in the 1720s-1730s quote segulot and amulets from the teachings of R. Yoel Baal Shem I, which were in the possession of his grandson R. Yoel Baal Shem II (see below). Sefer HaZichronot of Rebbe Rayatz of Lubavitch records that R. Yoel Baal Shem I belonged to the "company of hidden men", and was the teacher of the kabbalist R. Adam Baal Shem - teacher of the Baal Shem Tov.
His grandson, R. Yoel Baal Shem II - R. Yoel son of R. Uri Heilprin (ca. 1690-ca. 1755) was a kabbalist and wonder-worker, who also earned the reputation of a Baal Shem. He resided in Zamość, and many would come to him in quest of salvations, amulets and segulot. R. Avraham Rabbi of Zhovkva described him as "reputed in our generation as an expert…" (in his approbation to the book Mif’alot Elokim, Zhovkva 1725). The printer of the book Toldot Adam (Zhovkva, 1720) writes about him: "He is renowned for being sought out daily from nearby and distant cities".
During the time of R. Yoel Baal Shem II, several books of practical kabbalah were published under his supervision, after undergoing his editing and receiving his approbation. In 1720, the book Toldot Adam was published in Zhovkva - a compilation of segulot and cures, instructions for writing amulets, incantations and hashbaot, from leading Baalei Shem - R. Eliyahu Baal Shem (of Chelm) and R. Yoel Baal Shem I, alongside segulot from Shlomo HaMelech, the Ramban, the Arizal and others. The publisher states that the book was published based on the holy writings of R. Yoel Baal Shem I. Two approbations by the grandson - R. Yoel Baal Shem II, were printed at the beginning and end of the book. In his foreword, the publisher writes about R. Yoel Baal Shem II: "We have no knowledge in practical kabbalah… all we have is the words of the great rabbi, exceptionally well-versed in both revealed and hidden realms of Torah… the renowned kabbalist R. Yoel Baal Shem, son of the prominent R. Uri of Zamość, grandson of the renowned kabbalist R. Yoel Baal Shem, and everyone knows that this R. Yoel Baal Shem is an authority and expert in this generation, and if he alone approves, the Jewish people will believe…". R. Yoel Baal Shem II signs his second approbation: "So says Yoel son of R. Uri Heilprin of Zamość and son-in-law of the renowned R. David son of R. Aryeh Yehuda Leib who was rabbi of Kraków and Brisk (Brest)". In 1722, a book of segulot and incantations titled Zevach Pesach was published in Zhovkva. It also contained amulets from R. Yoel Baal Shem I. His grandson R. Yoel Baal Shem II accorded his approbation to this book as well. A book with similar content was published in Zhovkva in 1725, titled Mif’alot Elokim, also containing amulets from R. Yoel Baal Shem I. This book too bears the approbation of R. Yoel Baal Shem II, alongside an approbation by R. Avraham Rabbi of Zhovkva who writes that since he does not deal in practical kabbalah, he at first refrained from giving an approbation to this book, yet upon seeing that R. Yoel Baal Shem II gave his approbation, and even proofread the entire book, he relied on him and added his approbation. Another book of practical kabbalah containing segulot, cures and amulets which received the approbation of R. Yoel Baal Shem II is the book Minchot Yaakov Solet, printed in Wilhelmsdorf, 1731.
This leaf contains inscriptions by his son R. Tzvi Hirsh, about whom no other information is known from other sources.
[1] leaf. 17.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Worming.