Sefer Karnayim - Amsterdam, 1765 - Copy of Rebbe Elazar Menachem Mendel Biderman of Lelów

Sefer Karnayim - Amsterdam, 1765 - Copy of Rebbe Elazar Menachem Mendel Biderman of Lelów
Sefer Karnayim, a Kabbalistic work attributed to R. Aharon of Cardena, with Dan Yadin commentary, by Kabbalist R. Shimshon of Ostropol. Amsterdam, [1765].
The title page bears the stamp: "Elazar Menachem son of R. Moshe, Jerusalem" - stamp of Rebbe Elazar Menachem Biderman of Lelów. In the margin of p. 24a is a short kabbalistic handwritten gloss, signed "Ya'ir" (acronym).
R. Elazar Menachem Mendel Biderman of Lelów (1827-1883), the third Lelów Rebbe, son of R. Moshe of Lelów, immigrated with his father from Poland to Eretz Israel in 1851. A few weeks thereafter his father died, and R. Elazar was appointed his successor. He headed the Chassidic population of Jerusalem.
In Jerusalem, he earned fame as a wonder-worker and as a holy person endowed with the Holy Spirit. He was revered by the tzaddikim of his times, both Chassidim and Mitnagdim. The Tiferet Shlomo of Radomsko sent him kvitlach, and the Divrei Chaim of Sanz on one Passover eve stated that "the seder now being conducted by R. Elazar Mendel in Jerusalem surpasses all the sedarim of all the tzaddikim".
R. Elazar was the first Jerusalemite Rebbe, and was a Jerusalemite with all his being. He was renowned for his lengthy daily prayers at the Western Wall. Reputedly, he designed the first Jerusalem gold-colored kaftan, which was purposefully different from the Turkish-Sephardi kaftan (which was more similar to the Arab robe), and from that time on, this type of kaftan became the typical attire of the Jerusalem Old Yishuv (see: Tiferet Beit David by his grandson R. Moshe Yair Weinstock, Jerusalem, 1968).
His son was the famous Jerusalem Rebbe David Zvi Shlomo (R. David'l) of Lelów.
Another stamp and ownership inscription on title page.
[3], 25 leaves. 18 cm. Good condition. Upper margins trimmed, affecting titles of some leaves. Tears to title page, partially repaired. New binding.