Book Announcement-Sale: Iggrot Shmuel, by Rabbi Shmuel Ashkenazi

By Eliezer Brodt

אוצר כתבי ר‘ שמואל אשכנזי, אגרות שמואל, אלף חסר תליסר מכתבי תורה וחכמה, א, תש“ב–תשל“ה; ב, תשל“ו– תשנ“ה; ג, תשנ“ו–תשס“ט, 1781 עמודים, הובא לדפוס בתוספות מפתחות מפורטים על ידי ר‘ יעקב ישראל סטל

A few months ago, right after Rabbi Shmuel Ashkenazi was niftar I, along with my friend Menachem Butler, initiated a campaign to raise funds to publish R. Ashkenazi’s letters. Baruch HaShem, and thanks to the help of some readers, enough money was raised to go to print and late last Wednesday night the copies of the book, coming in at over 1,700 pages, arrived.

Previously, I provided the following description of R. Ashkenazi’s letters:

The collection is comprised of almost one thousand letters from R. Ashkenazi to correspondents all over the world. Beginning in 1942 and continues until his death. The letters cover a wide-range of topics, from tracing Hebrew expressions to their sources, providing hereto unknown citations for hundreds of Rabbinic statements, exploring the history and language of piyuttim, discussion of minhagim, tracing the evolution of well-known Jewish stories and legends, bibliography, and the list goes on.

It’s a work that anyone interested in the Jewish Book will find many things to enjoy. The work is not a light read but contains so much valuable information on a wide range of topics.

Just to quote one testimony regarding R. Ashkenazi’s letter, from Professor Shnayer Leiman, (for others, collected by Menachem Butler, see here).

Professor Shnayer Leiman wrote:

Reb Shmuel was “bibliographer, bibliophile, and book collector, and his encyclopedic knowledge of all of Hebrew and Yiddish literature remains unparalleled in our time.” His collected writings are an intellectual treasure trove, “covering a wide range of topics in the field of Jewish Studies. Aside from his scholarly distinction, R. Shmuel Ashkenazi wrote in an elegant Hebrew with its own special charm. Not only did he advance discussion, but he did so in an aesthetically pleasing manner. For those of us who knew him personally, he evinced the same charm in his personal relationships that he did in his writings… Let it be said openly: this three-volume set will enlighten every reader and will significantly advance scholarship. Anyone concerned with advancing the cause of quality Jewish scholarship will take special delight in the publication of these volumes.”

During his lifetime [Ashkenazi] corresponded with the greatest Jewish scholars and bibliographers the world over. They wrote to him, for only he could solve the countless historical and literary problems that stumped them. Suffice to list among those who consulted him: Gershom Scholem (distinguished Jewish historian); S.Y. Agnon (Nobel Prize laureate); Judah Leib Maimon Fishman (Minister of Religions, Israel); and a stellar list of prominent Jewish historians, rabbinic scholars, and bibliographers, much too long to list here (e.g., Simha Assaf; Israel Ta-Shma; Meir Benayahu; A.M. Habermann; Avraham Yaari; and Naftali Ben Menahem).

The letters have been printed in a three-volume set, 1781 pp. including an excellent index of eighty-seven pages.

There are less than two hundred copies for sale. It will not be going into a second printing.

To reserve a copy contact me at eliezerbrodt@gmail.com

For a PDF of the introduction (which includes a nice biography about him) sample letters, and the indexes send me an email at eliezerbrodt@gmail.com

In the near future I hope to describe forthcoming plans for the printing of more of Rabbi Shmuel Ashkenazi’s writings.