Lectures of Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler, Author of Michtav MeEliyahu, Handwritten by His Disciple Rabbi Solomon ...

Lectures of Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler, Author of Michtav MeEliyahu, Handwritten by His Disciple Rabbi Solomon David Sassoon, With Glosses and Additions Handwritten by R. Dessler – London, 1936 – Unpublished
Manuscript, summaries of the lectures of R. Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler, author of Michtav MeEliyahu, on tractate Bava Batra, handwritten by his disciple R. Solomon David Sassoon, with glosses and additions handwritten by R. Dessler. [London], 1936.
Summary of the opinions of the Rishonim and Acharonim on the topics at the beginning of Bava Batra, based on lectures delivered by R. Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler, recorded and arranged by his disciple R. Solomon David Sassoon.
20 leaves handwritten by R. Solomon David Sassoon (semi-cursive Sephardic script – Rashi script), with corrections and additions handwritten by R. Dessler (in Ashkenazic script). Two additional, smaller leaves enclosed, entirely handwritten by R. Dessler, with additions to the summaries.
Recorded during R. Dessler's stay in England. At the time, R. Dessler served as private teacher of the young Solomon David Sassoon, at the family estate. With R. Dessler's guidance, R. Solomon recorded summaries of the topics studied, arranged in perfect order with titles, sub-titles and sections. He added a table of contents at the beginning of the manuscript. R. Dessler later reviewed his work and added corrections, notes and additions.
R. Solomon David concludes his manuscript (on penultimate leaf): "Completed with the help of G-d on the 25th of Iyar, 40th day of the Omer 1936". Closing poem in rhymes on the final leaf.
Some of R. Dessler's Talmudic novellae were published in 1992 in Chiddushei HaGaon R. E.E. Dessler al HaShas (Ahavat Shalom institute), from the writings of his disciple R. Solomon David Sassoon. In 2005, a second edition of the book was published, with the addition of part II. However, the lectures recorded in the present manuscript were not published there.
R. Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler (1892-1953), a leading author of musar literature in our generation, and a descendant of R. Yisrael of Salant, founder of the musar movement. A product of the Kelm yeshiva, he was the son-in-law of R. Nachum Ze’ev Ziv of Kelm. He arrived in England in 1927 and served as rabbi of Dalston, London, later founding the Gateshead Kollel and other Torah institutes throughout England. In his final years, he served as mashgiach of the Ponevezh yeshiva in Bnei Brak. His profound lectures constructed upon the fundamentals of ethics, Kabbalah and Chassidut were published by his disciples in the book Sichot UMaamarim, in the five volumes of Michtav MeEliyahu and in Sefer HaZikaron Michtav MeEliyahu, which have become the basis for profound study of musar in this generation.
R. Solomon David Sassoon (1915-1985), son of the renowned philanthropist Sir David Solomon Sassoon. From a young age, he excelled in his Torah studies, and his father therefore hired prominent educators for him, including R. Dessler. R. Solomon expended much efforts in his studies, and with his teacher's guidance, he recorded comprehensive summaries of complex Talmudic topics, establishing the various opinions of the Rishonim in a profound, scholarly fashion. He was rabbinically ordained at the age of twenty-one by R. Dessler and other rabbis. On that occasion, he was offered the position of rabbi of the Sephardi community in London, yet he turned it down. He was later even offered the position of chief rabbi of Eretz Israel, after the passing of R. Uziel, yet he rejected this proposition as well. He was one of the leading supporters of Torah institutions, a donor and philanthropist active in many different fields. In 1971, he left England and settled in Jerusalem. He authored Nathan Chochmah LiShlomo (Ahavat Shalom, Jerusalem, 1989). His novellae were also published in Nachalat Avot (Ahavat Shalom, Jerusalem 2007).
[22] leaves (including one blank leaf; leaves written on one side only). 25 cm. Thin paper. Stains, creases and wear. First leaf torn and detached. Leaves attached with paper clips (rusty).