The book Magen Avot by the Maharam Banet – first edition, Zolkiew, 1835

The book Magen Avot by the Maharam Banet – first edition, Zolkiew, 1835
The book Magen Avot, a commentary on the 39 melachot of shabbat by Rabbi Mordechai Banet, first edition, 1835. Ownership signature: Mordechai Moshe Karfman Hacohen. [2], 60 leaves. Stains and a few worming holes, good overall condition. Rabbi Mordechai son of Avraham Banet, better known as the Maharam Banet (1753 – 1829), one of the foremost Hungarian rabbis, av beit din and rosh yeshiva of Nikolsburg and chief rabbi of Moravia. He was known as a genius from a young age, and at the age of eleven he was sent to study in the yeshiva of Rabbi Yaakov Katzenelbogen in Oettingen, Bavaria. At the age of 15 he moved to the yeshiva of Furth to study from Rabbi Yosef Steinhardt. At the age of 18 he travelled to Prague, where he studied from the Noda B’Yehuda. At the age of 22 he married the daughter of Gimpel Prostich of Nikolsburg and moved to study there from Rabbi Shmuel Shmelke Horowitz – one of the foremost chassidic leaders and the rabbi of the city, who he developed an extremely close relationship with. Chassidic legend tells that he used to practice ascetism from a young age, with fasts and self-inflicted physical suffering, until Rabbi Zusha of Hanipol criticized him for the self-inflicted suffering, and from then on he only abstained from food. He was also fluent in external wisdom, such as philosophy, astronomy and mathematics. He was a loyal citizen of Kaiser Franz I, and composed a prayer in his honor after the rebellion in Italy was crushed in 1820. It is told that the Chatam Sofer attested that he had Ruch Hakodesh.