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A Torah Discovery! Novellae of Rabbi Akiva Eiger on Tractate Gittin – The Original Source in His Own Holy Handwriting - A leaf of Torah novellae on Tractate Gittin, entirely in the holy handwriting of Rabban Shel Yisrael, Rabbi Akiva Eiger, one of the greatest Torah scholars and halachic authorities of all generations. The manuscript has been definitively identified by experts as being in Rabbi Akiva Eiger’s own handwriting. Before us is an exceptionally rare and moving leaf, significant not only because it is written in Rabbi Akiva Eiger’s own hand. The novellae on this leaf have a remarkable history of transmission spanning approximately a century and a half – from Rabbi Akiva Eiger’s own writing desk, through a word-for-word copy made by his disciple, and ultimately to their appearance in print generations later. In 1977, the volume Zichron Yehuda was published in Jerusalem, containing Torah novellae of Rabbi Akiva Eiger, including the very passages appearing on the present leaf. These novellae were printed there from a manuscript preserved in the National Library of Israel, catalogued as a 19th-century manuscript containing teachings of the disciples of Rabbi Akiva Eiger and the Chatam Sofer. The editors of Zichron Yehuda, however – among them distinguished experts in the Torah teachings of Rabbi Akiva Eiger, foremost among them Rabbi Shmuel Eisenstein – recognized that some of the novellae bore the unmistakable intellectual imprint of Rabbi Akiva Eiger. Based on their content and style, they attributed them to his teachings. Now, with the discovery of the present manuscript, the circle is complete. It becomes clear that these novellae were not merely transmitted in Rabbi Akiva Eiger’s study hall, nor merely attributed to him on the basis of their content. Before us is the original source itself: the novellae as first written in the holy hand of Rabbi Akiva Eiger. His disciple subsequently copied them into the manuscript now preserved in the National Library, and it was from that copy that, generations later, the novellae ultimately appeared in Zichron Yehuda. The transmission of these Torah teachings can thus be traced almost link by link: Rabbi Akiva Eiger’s autograph manuscript → his disciple’s word-for-word copy → the manuscript preserved in the National Library → publication of the novellae in Zichron Yehuda. Before us, therefore, is the first link in the chain – the original source from which the later transmission developed: a leaf upon which Rabbi Akiva Eiger himself recorded his novellae on Tractate Gittin, whose contents continued to be transmitted from generation to generation until they were finally published approximately 150 years later. Rabbi Akiva Eiger [1761–1837], the celebrated Rabbi of Posen, was one of the greatest Torah scholars and halachic authorities of recent centuries and one of the foremost pillars of halachic ruling and Talmudic scholarship. His Torah teachings, responsa and glosses became fundamental works of the Torah world, and his writings continue to be studied in depth in batei midrash throughout the world. Original manuscripts in Rabbi Akiva Eiger’s hand are treasured and revered by Torah scholars and collectors alike; particular importance attaches to autograph Torah novellae whose chain of transmission and copying can be traced through to their eventual appearance in print. [1] leaf, approx. 20 × 18 cm. Approx. 20 lines in the holy handwriting of Rabbi Akiva Eiger. The first line is written in the distinctive square script characteristic of Rabbi Akiva Eiger. Very good condition. Minor age stains.