Аукцион Bidspirit | Prayer Siddur with the Commentary

Prayer Siddur with the Commentary of the “Minchat Elazar” of Munkacs – Personal Copy of Maran Rabbi Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz, with His Handwritten Ownership Inscription - Minchat Elazar Siddur, a substantial prayer book [948 pages], containing prayers for the entire year according to the Munkacs rite, with commentaries and explanations by the holy Gaon Rabbi Chaim Elazar Shapira of Munkacs, author of Minchat Elazar. Edited and published by Rabbi Yerucham Simcha Friedman. Monsey, New York, [1992]. The personal copy of Maran, the great Gaon Rabbi Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz, Rosh Yeshiva of the Ponevezh Yeshiva for Young Students and one of the foremost Roshei Yeshiva of the previous generation. The siddur was presented as a gift to Rabbi Michel Yehuda by the publisher. On the flyleaf is a printed label bearing the publisher’s name, alongside which Rabbi Michel Yehuda took the trouble to inscribe his own name in his sacred handwriting, indicating his ownership of the volume – testimony to the importance he attributed to this siddur. This siddur is far more than merely a prayer book. Throughout its pages are printed the commentaries and explanations of the holy Gaon Rabbi Chaim Elazar Shapira of Munkacs, author of Minchat Elazar, one of the most renowned Torah and Chassidic leaders of the generation preceding the Holocaust. These commentaries give the siddur the additional value of a work for study and contemplation, beyond its use as a prayer book. Aside from the uniqueness of this siddur as an exceptionally rare Judaica item, bringing together one of the great leaders of the yeshiva world of the previous generation with a siddur containing the teachings and commentaries of the Minchat Elazar – the foremost zealot of his generation – the siddur also possesses an immeasurable segulah for the acceptance of prayers, having belonged to one of the great Torah sages and tzaddikim of the previous generation, who in his zeal for the Torah stood like an impregnable wall against every decree and would not permit the traditions of the generations to be altered by even the slightest degree. The great Gaon Rabbi Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz [1913–2011], one of the leaders of the Lithuanian Torah community, among the foremost disciples of Maran the Chazon Ish, a member of the Council of Torah Sages of Degel HaTorah, and Rosh Yeshiva of the Ponevezh Yeshiva for Young Students. In his youth, he studied at the Chevron Yeshiva in Jerusalem and was close to its Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Yechezkel Sarna, and to the mashgiach, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Chasman. During his years of study, he also became close to Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer, regularly attended his lectures on Seder Kodashim, and even established a weekly study session with him. In time, he became one of the foremost disciples of Maran the Chazon Ish. Following his marriage, he was appointed a Ram at the Tiferet Tzion Yeshiva. Among his students there were Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, Rabbi Nissim Karelitz, Rabbi Meir Tzvi Bergman, and Rabbi Dov Tzvi Karlenstein. On occasion, the Chazon Ish himself would attend his lectures and listen to his teachings. In the early 1950s, with the establishment of the Ponevezh Yeshiva for Young Students by the Ponevezher Rav, Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, Rabbi Michel Yehuda was appointed to head the yeshiva alongside Rabbi Aharon Yehuda Leib Steinman. For nearly sixty years, he disseminated Torah there and raised thousands of students, including renowned rabbis, Roshei Yeshiva, and Torah scholars. He passed away on 26 Sivan 5771. [5], 948 pp. 22 cm. Good condition.