Auction 1 - Rare Hebrew Books, Manuscripts & Rabbinic Letters
Lot 39:
Description
Twelve autograph pages from one of the Steipler’s characteristic blue working notebooks (mahberet), preserving two distinct Torah discussions in his unmistakable hand. Rich with corrections, deletions, insertions, and revisions, the manuscript vividly documents the evolution of the Steipler’s thought as he refined and reworked his analyses before they reached their final form.
Unlike a fair copy prepared for the press, the present notebook allows the reader to observe the creative process itself. Successive layers of emendation record the Steipler’s continual reconsideration of language, argument, and structure, providing an unusually intimate window into the disciplined working methods that characterized one of the foremost Torah scholars of the twentieth century.
Particularly poignant is the inside cover of the notebook, where the Steipler recorded a handwritten list of names accompanied by brief notations and requests relating to each individual. This personal memorandum, preserved alongside the Torah novellae, offers a rare glimpse into the rhythm of his daily life, where communal concerns and personal responsibilities coexisted with uninterrupted scholarly labor.
Ten manuscript double, written in blue ink, on one side only, from the Steipler’s original blue mahberet, with additional writing on both inner wrappers, in total twelve pages handwritten by the Steipler. Preserved in its original notebook covers, bound in a new leather binding. Published in Kehilot Yaakov (Kiddushin §20), Kisvei Kehilot Yaakov HaHadashim vol. 1 §51.
Condition: Very good condition
Provenance: The collection of R. Shmuel Dovid Friedman, the Sede Tzofim
Opening price: $10,000
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