Smichas Chachamim by Rabbi Naftali Katz
First Edition. Frankfurt am Main, 1706
The sefer explains the connection between adjoining masechtos according to all 4 methods of Torah study – pshat, remez, drush and sod, known as Parde"s, and also includes chiddushim on tractate Brachos. It is authored by the kabbalist Rabbi Naftali Katz, Av Beis Din of Frankfurt am Main.
There is an additional title page for the chiddushim on maseches Brachos.
The title pages are adorned with figures, illustrations and decorations, and are considered among the most artistic title pages in Hebrew publishing.
The second page of the sefer features a large poem shaped like a star. This page is folded, as it was printed on larger paper than the rest of the sefer.
Rabbi Naftali Katz (1650-1719) was a renowned Ashkenazic kabbalist. He served as Av Beis Din and Rosh Yeshiva of Posen and Frankfurt am Main. He was accused of starting a fire through his dealings with practical Kabbala and was forced to leave Frankfurt. He traveled first to Prague and then onward toward Eretz Yisrael. However, he passed away on the journey while in Constantinople and is buried there.
Frankfurt am Main, 1706. First edition.
Page Count: 18; [1], 101 leaves.
Wide margins. Restoration on the title page and completion of paper at the top, minor text loss at the fold of the large leaf (leaf 2), slight stains. New binding.
The title page features the signature of Rabbi Moshe Lehren of Mannheim, a dayan in The Hague and father of the famous philanthropists’ Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Lehren and Rabbi Akiva Lehren, founders of the Pekidim and Amarkalim organization in Amsterdam, which was responsible for raising funds from the diaspora for the Old Yishuv in Eretz Yisrael. When the Chida visited Hague, he met Rabbi Moshe and spoke highly of him in his sefer ‘Ma’agal Tov’.
