Birkat HaChammah Collection - Archive of the Gaon Rabbi Yechiel Michel Tukachinsky, Progenitor of Luach Eretz Yisrael

Birkat HaChammah Collection - Archive of the Gaon Rabbi Yechiel Michel Tukachinsky, Progenitor of Luach Eretz Yisrael

Unique collection, rare and interesting, of books about Birkat HaChammah, rare posters and documents that deal with the calculation of setting Birkat HaChammah and public events that accompanied this uncommon event, which occurs in a 28-year cycle. (These compilations are therefore naturally not kept.)

The source of this collection is the archive of the gaon Rabbi Yechiel Michel Tukachinsky, who led the legendary Etz Chaim yeshivah and published Luach L'Eretz Yisrael (known primarily for the wall-calendar edition that is hung in most synagogues in the Land of Israel). Rabbi Yechiel Michel Tukachinsky was the pioneer of publishing the daily halachic calendar in the Land of Israel, based on his halachic determinations in his rulings, and based on precise observations he made in order to set times for sunrise and sunset. Rabbi Yechiel Michel published the calendar for about fifty years, from 1905-1955. When he passed away, his son Rabbi Nissan Aharon Tukachinsky continued publishing the calendar for customs in the Land of Israel. Ahead of the 204th cycle of Birkat HaChammah, which was in 1925, Rabbi Yechiel Michel authored a special book called Tekufat HaChammah U'Virkatah - al Machzor HaShemesh V'Hilchot Birkat HaChammah. Jerusalem, 1925.

The collection includes:

* [11] Birkat HaChammah books (details below).

* [14] typewritten leaves with revisions and glosses on the book Tekufat HaChammah U'Virkatah, apparently in preparation for another edition. Includes many handwritten revisions by his son, Rabbi Nissan Aharon.

* Issue of the Kol Yisrael newspaper (issue 35, Nissan 1981) - souvenir issue for the Birkat HaChammah event by the Western Wall. 

* [2] typewritten leaflets in various colors regarding the Edah Charedit event in the Batei-Ungarin square.

* [1] leaflet about the Agudat Yisrael event at the Western Wall. 

* [2] typewritten leaflets about the event that was to take place on the roof of Beit Ya'akov Karo in Jerusalem.

* [2] receipts from Salomon Press in Jerusalem for printing the Birkat HaChammah booklet.

Details of the books on Birkat HaChammah:

Bound book with 6 booklets of the Birkat HaChammah service, from the years 1897-1925:

* Seder Birkat HaChammah B'Tekufatah. Warsaw, 1897.

* 28-year calendar with Birkat HaChammah. Jerusalem, 1897.

* Tekufat HaChammah U'Virkatah by Rabbi Yechiel Michel Tukachinsky. Jerusalem, 1925.

* Ohr Hachamah with Me'orei Or. Premishlan, 1924.

* Yizrach Ohr Seder Birkat HaChammah by Rabbi Pinchas Schwartz. Kleinwardein, 1925.

* Ohr HaChammah with Zoharei HaChammah by Rabbi Betzalel Ze'ev of Bacău, from Kibbutzei Ephraim, year IV, Sinai, 1925.

Various sizes, bound together.

Individual booklets:

* Tekufat HaChammah U'Virkatah by Rabbi Yechiel Michel Tukachinsky. Jerusalem, 1925.

* Tekufat HaChammah U'Virkatah by Rabbi Yechiel Michel Tukachinsky. Jerusalem, 1953.

* Seder Birkat HaChammah (apparently Tukachinsky, Jerusalem) 1981.

* Pocket calendar for 1981 together with Birkat HaChammah. Jerusalem.

* Seder Birkat HaChammah by Mercaz Agudat Yisrael. 1981. 3 copies.

* Seder Birkat HaChammah (single leaf) 1981.

Overall fine condition.