Five Books of the Torah with Or HaChaim Commentary on the Torah - Slavita, 1825 - Five-Volume Set - Copy of the ...

Five Books of the Torah with Or HaChaim Commentary on the Torah - Slavita, 1825 - Five-Volume Set - Copy of the Shtefanesht Tsaddik
Five books of the Torah, with Targum and commentaries, and with the Or HaChaim commentary by R. Chaim ibn Attar. Slavita, [1824-1825]. Printed by R. Shmuel Avraham Shapira son of the Slavita rabbi.
Copy of the Shtefanesht Tsaddik: Volumes Bereshit and Vayikra bear the stamps of R. "Avraham Matityahu Freidman" of Shtefanesht [the stamp on Vayikra is cutoff].
Five volumes, complete set (with the exception of one leaf lacking in the Shemot volume). The volume of Bereshit is dated 1825 and the volumes Shemot-Devarim are dated 1824. Parts of the title pages are printed in red ink. The Or HaChaim commentary is printed next to the Rashi commentary and the Aramaic Targums: Onkelos, Jonathan ben Uzziel and the Targum Yerushalmi. Contains the Five Megillot.
R. Avraham Matityahu Friedman of Shtefenesht [Stefanesti] (1847-1933; Encyclopedia L'Chassidut, Vol. 1, pp 131-132), grandson of Rabbi Yisrael of Ruzhin. His followers numbered in the thousands and he had a huge impact on all circles of Romanian Jewry. In a halachic responsa, Rabbi Bezalel Shafran wrote in reference to the Rebbe,"The power of that great and holy elder was known to all, a true worshiper of G-d, glory of our country, no one dares deviate from his holy sayings." (Rabbi Bezalel Ze'ev Responsa, section 1, Yoreh De'ah, chapter 116.) Stories are told of the Rebbe's legendary prayers which would last for hours without a sound escaping his lips. During the Mussaf prayer of Rosh Hashanah he stood hunched for two hours without moving a limb, so too was his intense concentration upon shaking the Lulav on Sukkot. Stories circulate of the many wonders he performed in curing the ill, bringing deliverance to barren women, etc.
After his death, the Rebbe's bones were brought to Eretz Israel and interred in the Ruzhin Rebbe dynasty plot in the Nachalat Yitzhak cemetery in Tel Aviv. His gravesite draws many people who come to pray for deliverance and there are numerous stories of salvations that took place as a result of praying at his holy grave.
Chassidic leaders extensively extol the holiness of the Or HaChaim HaKadosh. The Ba'al Shem Tov said that every night the Or HaChaim hears Torah from G-d and he "was among those who have plunged the depths of the merkava and the revelation of souls and has risen to the level of true Holy Spirit". He also said that at the time his own soul rises every night, he sees that from all the tzaddikim, only Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar precedes him and as hard as he tries, he cannot advance before Rabbi Chaim. It is told that the mighty efforts the Ba'al Shem Tov expended to ascend to Eretz Israel were to meet Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar, who was the "spark of the Messiah", and thus he aspired to bring the redemption.
Five volumes. 82, 89-196; 182, 25 [i.e. 24]; 144; 162; 132, 26 leaves. Lacking leaf 3 of Shemot. 23-25 cm. The margins of Vayikra are trimmed close to the text, affecting titles (all the bindings are of uniform height). Good condition. Stains, slight wear. Worming to several leaves. Tears on a few leaves. Some leaves were replaced from other copies. Ownership inscriptions and stamps (all the volumes bear the stamp of Beit HaMidrash Leipziger). New elegant leather bindings with gilt decorations.