Kestenbaum has put up their latest catalog for their auction of September 12 2006. It has some rather nice pieces.

Just to highlight one. They have the Siddur by R. Jacob Emden. While this siddur in and of itself is somewhat rare due to the fact R. Emden self-published this, the copy Kestenbaum has is even more unique. This copy contains pages which do not appear in most of the copies. R. Emden disagrees with Maimonides regarding the purpose of circumcision. R. Emden argues, contrary to Maimonides, that circumcision does not reduce sexual excitement in fact it enhances it. In the majority of copies all that appears is “In truth, [Maimonides’] remarks are most astonishing” but nothing about R. Emden’s contrary view. The lot with this book as well as a fuller discussion is number 53.

Second, recently David Assaf published a collection of his articles. While his articles did engender that much notice – his book on the other hand has. Tzemach Atlas of Mentalblog has been following this and has collected various newspaper reviews as well as his own. The book in question deals with various hassidic stories, some of which have been suppressed due the perceived slight on their participants. These include an apostasy of a Rebbe’s son as well as other interesting facts.