<p><br /></p>
<p><b>Rare and Historical! The detailed worldview of the Agudas Yisroel movement and its courses of action, handwritten by Maran the Admor the 'Pnei Menachem' of Gur. Ca. 1976.</b></p>
<p><b><br /></b></p>
<p>Lengthy document spread out on two leaves in his holy hand during the years he was the leader of the Agudas Yisroel movement in Israel.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p> </p>
<div>
</div>
<div>
In the rare document, the Rabbi with his small, condensed and beautiful script, specifies the basic purpose of the activities of Agudas Yisroel in Israel, the ways of running Moetzes Gedolai HaTorah, the impact on Rabbanim and Roshei Yeshivot to join the Agudas Yisroel specifically in the field of education.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
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</div>
<div>
In exceptional and uncommon detail, the Admor, who then served as the chairman of the national center of Agudas Yisroel, describes what Agudas Yisroel is supposed to do in all fields and areas, education, policy, public activity, supporting religion and more.
</div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
"Lectures by Gedolai Yisrael for teachers and Rabbis about the primary purpose of education should be organized. Speakers should be sent everywhere to encourage the public in the area of strengthening religion: observing Sabbath, family purity, Mikvaot, modesty, to warn against the pursuit of luxury and waste, She'atnez, interest, Shmita, and Kashrus.
</div>
<div>
The Rabbi stressed: mainly to take care of raising the religious, moral, and educational level and Yiras Shamayim in the educational institutions".
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At the end of the list the Rabbi added a note signed with the initials of his name.
</div>
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<b>The Admor the holy Rav the 'Pnei Menachem' of Gur [1926-1996] the </b>youngest son of holy Rav the Imrei Emes of Gur, one of the leaders of the recent generation and one of the great instigators who stood at the head of the Orthodox Jewry. Served as the Rosh Yeshiva of Sefas Emes since 1957, and after the passing of his brother-in-law Rabbi Yitzchok Meir Hacohen Levine who was president of Agudas Yisroel, he started serving as the leader of the national center of the movement. He stood by his brothers the Admorim the Beis Yisroel and the Lev Simcha of Gur and for years, toiled for the establishment of the Torah institutions of Chassidus Gur. For many years he served as member of Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah and he was one of its main speakers in all public gatherings. During his last years he served as leader of thousands of Jews until his passing hours after the end of the Purim Tish in his Beit Midrash.
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[2] leaves. Handwritten entirely by him. Very good condition.
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Talk to us on
<a href="https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=972533167390&text&app_absent=0& %20lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><b>WhatsApp</b></a>
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<p></p>
US$1,500
Other
US$300,000
· Feb 2026
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<b>Machzor Bnei Roma, Central Italy. Manuscript from the mid-15th century.</b>
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<b>A monumental and unique treasure!</b>
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Manuscript on parchment, a Machzor according to the Italian rite, for weekdays, Shabbat Rosh Chodesh, Chanukah, fast days, the Four Parshiyot, Purim and Pesach; Yotzerot and Kerovot; the Pesach Haggadah; and more. Central Italy [Florence?], mid-15th century [apparently between 1450–1458].
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311 leaves, foliated in an Italian cursive hand 3–313.
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Italian square script with vocalization, and semi-cursive Italian script for laws, customs, and instructions.
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Written in great splendor, in beautiful calligraphy, by the scribe Moshe Ha'Sofer Ben Reb Avraham. The script of the present Machzor is identical to that of a manuscript, Schocken Institute for Jewish Research MS 13873, a Machzor copied by the same scribe and completed on 2 Sivan 1441.
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The manuscript contains opening words customarily illustrated in color and gold, executed as hollow framed letters; see leaf 236a, in the Haggadah Shel Pesach: “Ha [Lachma Anya], ” and likewise in the Scrolls of Esther and Shir HaShirim, on leaves 210a and 308a.
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At the beginning of the manuscript is a large and unique quire [74 leaves] of personal prayers recited prior to prayer, supplications, and Piyyutim by early Sages of France, the Chasidei Ashkenaz, and Kabbalists of Spain,
<b>including rare prayers and supplications—some unknown from any other source</b>—and many rare Piyyutim,
<b>among them a Piyyut extant in only one other manuscript besides this one, as well as rare Piyyutim and supplications by Rabbi Netanel Ben Yosef of Kinon.</b>
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<b>Contains blessings over Nevi’im and Ketuvim within Birkat HaTorah for the individual, as well as ancient Piyyutim that later fell out of use in the Italian rite, indicating that the Machzor was copied from a much earlier exemplar.</b>
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<b>A long and detailed list of all the special prayers and Piyyutim appears in a research document appended to this item.</b>
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</div>
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<b>On leaf [65a] appears an extremely rare Kabbalah by Rabbi Avraham Ben Reb Yitzchak, Av Beis Din of Narbonne, concerning the recitation of verses efficacious for protecting travelers.</b> His identity is known only from the present manuscript, and anonymously it appears in only one additional manuscript.
<b>Another Kabbalah is recorded there, in the name of Rabbi Yehuda HaChasid, for the recitation of verses efficacious for protection from all trouble.</b>
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An ownership drawing, taken from a previous binding, impressed on the pastedown of the front cover: Jacob Rimini, who lived in Florence, 17th century.
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With various ownership inscriptions, including:
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*בהנו"א [בשם ה' נעשה ונצליח אמן] [...] פה אעלה לזכ[ירה] לפי דברי המופארה הורתי תחי' איך בליל שבת קדש בין ז וח שעות שהיה ד' נובימרו [4.11] רצ"ב לפ"ק פרשת [חיי שרה] שהיה שנת 1531 המליטה זכר וקראו בישראל שמו יעקב ה' יזכהו ויחייהו ויתקיים בו קרא דכתיב יגל וישמח ישראל אמן
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* עו[ד] לזכירה איך ביום ו' ב' מאייו שנת רצ"ט [2.5.1539] יד אייר הכבו[דה] הורתי תחי' המליטה זכר בין יד ויז שעות ה' יגיעהו ויזכהו [...] ויקיים בו קרא דכתיב ואברהם היו [!] יהיה לגוי גדול ועצום
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* [...] הזקן הנכבד דוד מרימיני [אביו של הבעלים הנ"ל, יעקב רימיני] שנפטר [...] טו לחדש חשון התל"ג [5.111.1672] [...] ויניח לנו חיים ארוכים טובים ונאמנים אמן כן יהי רצון, כל הנשמה תהלל י"ה
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• A list in Italian, difficult to read, headed with date and place: 16.03.1667, Florence.
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</div>
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In many places in the manuscript there are censorship erasures by a censor from the mid-15th century, who signed alongside them: Marchion NP [= Nutius Papae].
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The present manuscript was part of the collection of Shlomo Zalman Chaim Halberstam and was described by him in: Kohelet Shlomo, being a list of manuscripts in the possession of S. Z. C. H. in Biala, Vienna 1890, no. 224.
</div>
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At the beginning of another manuscript from the same collection, Halberstam no. 225, a Machzor for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot, which was certainly also copied in the hand of Rabbi Moshe HaSofer Ben Reb Avraham, appear the signatures of the same censor next to every erasure, as in the present volume.
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In that Machzor, there is recorded a deed of sale of the Machzor from Raphael Zagi Ben Reb Yitzchak of Florence, dated 7 Tammuz 1458 [19.7.1458]. In the Ne’ilah prayer of that Machzor is included the Akeidah Piyyut “El Chai Daltei Ratzon Hayah Poteach…, ” by Rabbi Raphael Zagi Ben Yitzchak of Florence [the above seller], which appears in the Parma manuscript Cod. Parm. 2735 De Rossi 802; there the Parma manuscript notes: “Tachanun for the Akeidah by Moreinu Rabbi Raphael Zagi Ben Yitzchak of Florence, composed on 6 Tishrei 1450 [12.9.1450].”
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From all of the above, it emerges that the Machzor for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot mentioned above was copied between the year of composition of the Piyyut and the year of sale of the Machzor, i.e., between 1450–1458. It may therefore be assumed that the present Machzor, copied by the same scribe and examined by the same censor, was produced in that same period.
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New and magnificent leather binding with blind tooling; stains and creases to several leaves; good to very good condition.
</div>
US$300,000
Other
US$22,000
· Mar 2026
<p><b>Maharal of Prague. Community Register of the Holy Congregation of Eibeschitz. Prayers Following the Torah Reading. On Parchment.</b></p>
<p><b>A Bimah Booklet from the City of Eibeschütz in Moravia, from the Time of the Maharal of Prague</b></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>A bimah booklet for the synagogue — blessings and prayers to be recited between the Torah reading and the return of the Torah scroll to the Holy Ark, on Sabbaths and Mondays and Thursdays. </p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Hebrew manuscript on parchment. Written in fine calligraphic square script and in a flowing hand: Yekum Purkan min Shemaya, blessings for the congregation and its leaders, a Mi Sheberach blessing for those accepting a fast upon themselves, a blessing for the Emperor, prayers for the sick, the prayer "Yehi Ratzon milifnei Avinu Shebashamayim..." (rooted in the Siddur of Rav Amram Gaon, which Ashkenazim customarily recited on Mondays, Thursdays, and Mondays), prefaced by an addition against informers composed by the Maharal, and the prayer "Av HaRachamim Shokhein Meromim..." for the martyrs of the 1096 massacres.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Eibeschütz (Ivančice), Moravia, apparently between the years 1553–1556.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Written on parchment in Ashkenazic square and semi-cursive scribal script, in beautiful calligraphy by Yosef son of Hillel Shmuel, a scribe from Eibeschütz — decorated with fine ink ornaments in the forms of rosettes, branches and leaves, grape clusters, animals, and birds. 27.5 x 17.5 cm. Very fine leather binding, decorated with embossed impressions.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>10 pages. Stained. Folio.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Many thanks to Prof. Shlomo Zucker (Jerusalem), who has researched this manuscript extensively. His scholarly notes accompany the item.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Despite the fact that the Moravian custom of reciting the Yehi Ratzon prayer against informers is well established (Prof. Israel Heilperin, Takkanot Medinat Mehrin, no. 180), the actual text of the prayer has been unknown, as has its author. Nevertheless, Heilperin postulates that it was quite possibly composed by the Maharal of Prague. The present manuscript can now confirm this.</p>
<p>The manuscript contains the complete prayer and notes that it was "written by Rabbi Loew of Prague, to be recited on Mondays and Thursdays." Therefore, as Prof. Zucker states, there is clear proof that this prayer was authored by the Maharal of Prague — along with its precise wording — and it is found only in the present manuscript.</p>
<p>Informing appears to have been a significant problem in sixteenth-century Bohemia and Moravia, both within the Jewish community and beyond it. The Maharal himself was the victim of numerous accusations that challenged the legitimacy of his birth, thereby considerably delaying his appointment as Chief Rabbi of Prague. A well-known case of informing against a Bohemian-Moravian rabbi was that of R. Yom Tov Lipmann Heller (Tosafot Yom Tov), a student of the Maharal and his successor as Chief Rabbi of Prague. Accused of treason by a resentful community member, R. Heller was imprisoned and sentenced to death — a sentence ultimately commuted to a heavy fine and exile.</p>
<p>Eibeschütz (Ivančice) was home to one of the oldest Jewish communities in Moravia and was the ancestral home of the famous Eibeschütz and Auerbach families. The inclusion of the Maharal's prayer in the community synagogue prayer booklet during the Maharal's own lifetime underscores the powerful influence that the Rabbi of Prague exerted over the cities of Moravia.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Text of the prayer, as recited:</p>
<p>"May it be the will of our Father in Heaven to uproot and eradicate every root that bears gall and wormwood in Israel — those who harm Israel with their tongues — and let there be no one who breaches the fence in their streets, the informers who harm Israel with their tongues, and those who destroy the standing between communities and press upon them to bring them down. May the Holy One, blessed be He, deliver Israel from their hands, and may He cut off the memory of these sinners and transgressors from the earth, and separate them for ill from all the tribes of Israel, and may they have no portion in the God of Israel; rather, may their name be blotted out from under the heavens. And may His people Israel be clean of this sin, guarding their mouths and their tongues, and separating themselves from these sinners and distancing themselves from them. May the God of old who dwells on high protect them, and may no breacher or sinner emerge from among them unto the end of all generations. And may they merit to see the consolations of Israel and their salvation [read: and their deliverance], now speedily and soon — and let us say, Amen."</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><b>A particularly special and highly important historical manuscript.</b></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
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</div>
<p></p>
![<p><br /></p>
<p><b>Rare and Historical! The detailed worldview of the Agudas Yisroel movement and its courses of action, handwritten by Maran the Admor the 'Pnei Menachem' of Gur. Ca. 1976.</b></p>
<p><b><br /></b></p>
<p>Lengthy document spread out on two leaves in his holy hand during the years he was the leader of the Agudas Yisroel movement in Israel.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p> </p>
<div>
</div>
<div>
In the rare document, the Rabbi with his small, condensed and beautiful script, specifies the basic purpose of the activities of Agudas Yisroel in Israel, the ways of running Moetzes Gedolai HaTorah, the impact on Rabbanim and Roshei Yeshivot to join the Agudas Yisroel specifically in the field of education.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
In exceptional and uncommon detail, the Admor, who then served as the chairman of the national center of Agudas Yisroel, describes what Agudas Yisroel is supposed to do in all fields and areas, education, policy, public activity, supporting religion and more.
</div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
"Lectures by Gedolai Yisrael for teachers and Rabbis about the primary purpose of education should be organized. Speakers should be sent everywhere to encourage the public in the area of strengthening religion: observing Sabbath, family purity, Mikvaot, modesty, to warn against the pursuit of luxury and waste, She'atnez, interest, Shmita, and Kashrus.
</div>
<div>
The Rabbi stressed: mainly to take care of raising the religious, moral, and educational level and Yiras Shamayim in the educational institutions".
</div>
<div>
At the end of the list the Rabbi added a note signed with the initials of his name.
</div>
<div>
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</div>
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<b>The Admor the holy Rav the 'Pnei Menachem' of Gur [1926-1996] the </b>youngest son of holy Rav the Imrei Emes of Gur, one of the leaders of the recent generation and one of the great instigators who stood at the head of the Orthodox Jewry. Served as the Rosh Yeshiva of Sefas Emes since 1957, and after the passing of his brother-in-law Rabbi Yitzchok Meir Hacohen Levine who was president of Agudas Yisroel, he started serving as the leader of the national center of the movement. He stood by his brothers the Admorim the Beis Yisroel and the Lev Simcha of Gur and for years, toiled for the establishment of the Torah institutions of Chassidus Gur. For many years he served as member of Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah and he was one of its main speakers in all public gatherings. During his last years he served as leader of thousands of Jews until his passing hours after the end of the Purim Tish in his Beit Midrash.
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[2] leaves. Handwritten entirely by him. Very good condition.
</div>
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<div>
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<a href="https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=972533167390&text&app_absent=0& %20lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><b>WhatsApp</b></a>
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<p></p>](/img/aHR0cHM6Ly9iaWRzcGlyaXQtaW1hZ2VzLmdsb2JhbC5zc2wuZmFzdGx5Lm5ldC90aWZlcmV0L2Nsb25lZC1pbWFnZXMvMjQ3NDUvMDAzLzAwMy5qcGc.3TDjqk7Y32ieUxyzdPaPJA)
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<b>Machzor Bnei Roma, Central Italy. Manuscript from the mid-15th century.</b>
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<b>A monumental and unique treasure!</b>
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</div>
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Manuscript on parchment, a Machzor according to the Italian rite, for weekdays, Shabbat Rosh Chodesh, Chanukah, fast days, the Four Parshiyot, Purim and Pesach; Yotzerot and Kerovot; the Pesach Haggadah; and more. Central Italy [Florence?], mid-15th century [apparently between 1450–1458].
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311 leaves, foliated in an Italian cursive hand 3–313.
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Italian square script with vocalization, and semi-cursive Italian script for laws, customs, and instructions.
</div>
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Written in great splendor, in beautiful calligraphy, by the scribe Moshe Ha'Sofer Ben Reb Avraham. The script of the present Machzor is identical to that of a manuscript, Schocken Institute for Jewish Research MS 13873, a Machzor copied by the same scribe and completed on 2 Sivan 1441.
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</div>
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The manuscript contains opening words customarily illustrated in color and gold, executed as hollow framed letters; see leaf 236a, in the Haggadah Shel Pesach: “Ha [Lachma Anya], ” and likewise in the Scrolls of Esther and Shir HaShirim, on leaves 210a and 308a.
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
At the beginning of the manuscript is a large and unique quire [74 leaves] of personal prayers recited prior to prayer, supplications, and Piyyutim by early Sages of France, the Chasidei Ashkenaz, and Kabbalists of Spain,
<b>including rare prayers and supplications—some unknown from any other source</b>—and many rare Piyyutim,
<b>among them a Piyyut extant in only one other manuscript besides this one, as well as rare Piyyutim and supplications by Rabbi Netanel Ben Yosef of Kinon.</b>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Contains blessings over Nevi’im and Ketuvim within Birkat HaTorah for the individual, as well as ancient Piyyutim that later fell out of use in the Italian rite, indicating that the Machzor was copied from a much earlier exemplar.</b>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>A long and detailed list of all the special prayers and Piyyutim appears in a research document appended to this item.</b>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>On leaf [65a] appears an extremely rare Kabbalah by Rabbi Avraham Ben Reb Yitzchak, Av Beis Din of Narbonne, concerning the recitation of verses efficacious for protecting travelers.</b> His identity is known only from the present manuscript, and anonymously it appears in only one additional manuscript.
<b>Another Kabbalah is recorded there, in the name of Rabbi Yehuda HaChasid, for the recitation of verses efficacious for protection from all trouble.</b>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
An ownership drawing, taken from a previous binding, impressed on the pastedown of the front cover: Jacob Rimini, who lived in Florence, 17th century.
</div>
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</div>
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With various ownership inscriptions, including:
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
*בהנו"א [בשם ה' נעשה ונצליח אמן] [...] פה אעלה לזכ[ירה] לפי דברי המופארה הורתי תחי' איך בליל שבת קדש בין ז וח שעות שהיה ד' נובימרו [4.11] רצ"ב לפ"ק פרשת [חיי שרה] שהיה שנת 1531 המליטה זכר וקראו בישראל שמו יעקב ה' יזכהו ויחייהו ויתקיים בו קרא דכתיב יגל וישמח ישראל אמן
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</div>
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* עו[ד] לזכירה איך ביום ו' ב' מאייו שנת רצ"ט [2.5.1539] יד אייר הכבו[דה] הורתי תחי' המליטה זכר בין יד ויז שעות ה' יגיעהו ויזכהו [...] ויקיים בו קרא דכתיב ואברהם היו [!] יהיה לגוי גדול ועצום
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
* [...] הזקן הנכבד דוד מרימיני [אביו של הבעלים הנ"ל, יעקב רימיני] שנפטר [...] טו לחדש חשון התל"ג [5.111.1672] [...] ויניח לנו חיים ארוכים טובים ונאמנים אמן כן יהי רצון, כל הנשמה תהלל י"ה
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• A list in Italian, difficult to read, headed with date and place: 16.03.1667, Florence.
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</div>
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In many places in the manuscript there are censorship erasures by a censor from the mid-15th century, who signed alongside them: Marchion NP [= Nutius Papae].
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The present manuscript was part of the collection of Shlomo Zalman Chaim Halberstam and was described by him in: Kohelet Shlomo, being a list of manuscripts in the possession of S. Z. C. H. in Biala, Vienna 1890, no. 224.
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
At the beginning of another manuscript from the same collection, Halberstam no. 225, a Machzor for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot, which was certainly also copied in the hand of Rabbi Moshe HaSofer Ben Reb Avraham, appear the signatures of the same censor next to every erasure, as in the present volume.
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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In that Machzor, there is recorded a deed of sale of the Machzor from Raphael Zagi Ben Reb Yitzchak of Florence, dated 7 Tammuz 1458 [19.7.1458]. In the Ne’ilah prayer of that Machzor is included the Akeidah Piyyut “El Chai Daltei Ratzon Hayah Poteach…, ” by Rabbi Raphael Zagi Ben Yitzchak of Florence [the above seller], which appears in the Parma manuscript Cod. Parm. 2735 De Rossi 802; there the Parma manuscript notes: “Tachanun for the Akeidah by Moreinu Rabbi Raphael Zagi Ben Yitzchak of Florence, composed on 6 Tishrei 1450 [12.9.1450].”
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From all of the above, it emerges that the Machzor for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot mentioned above was copied between the year of composition of the Piyyut and the year of sale of the Machzor, i.e., between 1450–1458. It may therefore be assumed that the present Machzor, copied by the same scribe and examined by the same censor, was produced in that same period.
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New and magnificent leather binding with blind tooling; stains and creases to several leaves; good to very good condition.
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![<p><b>Maharal of Prague. Community Register of the Holy Congregation of Eibeschitz. Prayers Following the Torah Reading. On Parchment.</b></p>
<p><b>A Bimah Booklet from the City of Eibeschütz in Moravia, from the Time of the Maharal of Prague</b></p>
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<p>A bimah booklet for the synagogue — blessings and prayers to be recited between the Torah reading and the return of the Torah scroll to the Holy Ark, on Sabbaths and Mondays and Thursdays. </p>
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<p>Hebrew manuscript on parchment. Written in fine calligraphic square script and in a flowing hand: Yekum Purkan min Shemaya, blessings for the congregation and its leaders, a Mi Sheberach blessing for those accepting a fast upon themselves, a blessing for the Emperor, prayers for the sick, the prayer "Yehi Ratzon milifnei Avinu Shebashamayim..." (rooted in the Siddur of Rav Amram Gaon, which Ashkenazim customarily recited on Mondays, Thursdays, and Mondays), prefaced by an addition against informers composed by the Maharal, and the prayer "Av HaRachamim Shokhein Meromim..." for the martyrs of the 1096 massacres.</p>
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<p>Eibeschütz (Ivančice), Moravia, apparently between the years 1553–1556.</p>
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<p>Written on parchment in Ashkenazic square and semi-cursive scribal script, in beautiful calligraphy by Yosef son of Hillel Shmuel, a scribe from Eibeschütz — decorated with fine ink ornaments in the forms of rosettes, branches and leaves, grape clusters, animals, and birds. 27.5 x 17.5 cm. Very fine leather binding, decorated with embossed impressions.</p>
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<p>10 pages. Stained. Folio.</p>
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<p>Many thanks to Prof. Shlomo Zucker (Jerusalem), who has researched this manuscript extensively. His scholarly notes accompany the item.</p>
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<p>Despite the fact that the Moravian custom of reciting the Yehi Ratzon prayer against informers is well established (Prof. Israel Heilperin, Takkanot Medinat Mehrin, no. 180), the actual text of the prayer has been unknown, as has its author. Nevertheless, Heilperin postulates that it was quite possibly composed by the Maharal of Prague. The present manuscript can now confirm this.</p>
<p>The manuscript contains the complete prayer and notes that it was "written by Rabbi Loew of Prague, to be recited on Mondays and Thursdays." Therefore, as Prof. Zucker states, there is clear proof that this prayer was authored by the Maharal of Prague — along with its precise wording — and it is found only in the present manuscript.</p>
<p>Informing appears to have been a significant problem in sixteenth-century Bohemia and Moravia, both within the Jewish community and beyond it. The Maharal himself was the victim of numerous accusations that challenged the legitimacy of his birth, thereby considerably delaying his appointment as Chief Rabbi of Prague. A well-known case of informing against a Bohemian-Moravian rabbi was that of R. Yom Tov Lipmann Heller (Tosafot Yom Tov), a student of the Maharal and his successor as Chief Rabbi of Prague. Accused of treason by a resentful community member, R. Heller was imprisoned and sentenced to death — a sentence ultimately commuted to a heavy fine and exile.</p>
<p>Eibeschütz (Ivančice) was home to one of the oldest Jewish communities in Moravia and was the ancestral home of the famous Eibeschütz and Auerbach families. The inclusion of the Maharal's prayer in the community synagogue prayer booklet during the Maharal's own lifetime underscores the powerful influence that the Rabbi of Prague exerted over the cities of Moravia.</p>
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<p>Text of the prayer, as recited:</p>
<p>"May it be the will of our Father in Heaven to uproot and eradicate every root that bears gall and wormwood in Israel — those who harm Israel with their tongues — and let there be no one who breaches the fence in their streets, the informers who harm Israel with their tongues, and those who destroy the standing between communities and press upon them to bring them down. May the Holy One, blessed be He, deliver Israel from their hands, and may He cut off the memory of these sinners and transgressors from the earth, and separate them for ill from all the tribes of Israel, and may they have no portion in the God of Israel; rather, may their name be blotted out from under the heavens. And may His people Israel be clean of this sin, guarding their mouths and their tongues, and separating themselves from these sinners and distancing themselves from them. May the God of old who dwells on high protect them, and may no breacher or sinner emerge from among them unto the end of all generations. And may they merit to see the consolations of Israel and their salvation [read: and their deliverance], now speedily and soon — and let us say, Amen."</p>
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<p><b>A particularly special and highly important historical manuscript.</b></p>
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