Shulchan Aruch HaRav, Laws of Passover – Zhitomir, 1855 – Many Glosses Handwritten by the Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch

Shulchan Aruch HaRav, Laws of Passover – Zhitomir, 1855 – Many Glosses Handwritten by the Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch

Shulchan Aruch HaRav, Part III – laws of Passover and festivals, by Rebbe Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the Baal HaTanya. [Zhitomir: R. Chanina Lipa and R. Yehoshua Heshel Shapira – grandsons of the rabbi of Slavita, 1855].
The present copy contains some 15 handwritten glosses, in the margins or body of the text – presumably, most or all handwritten by Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, the Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch. Another volume from this edition (Zhitomir, 1855) – the Choshen Mishpat part, is also known to have been in the possession of the Tzemach Tzedek, and there too, the Tzemach Tzedek added glosses in his handwriting and replaced censorship omissions (see Kedem, auction 72, item no. 132).
On leaf 115, handwritten replacement of words omitted by the censor (section 480, 3). The first three editions of Shulchan Aruch HaRav were not censored; however, starting with the fourth edition (Warsaw, 1838), the censors started removing passages and sometimes even entire sections of the Shulchan Aruch. The censorship was especially strict in regards to halachic works related to Choshen Mishpat and sections pertaining to non-Jews (see: R. Yehoshua Mondshine, Sifrei Halacha Shel Admor HaZaken – Bibliography, p. 36 onwards).

R. Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, the Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch (1789-1866) – third rebbe in the Chabad Chassidic dynasty. Grandson and close disciple of Rebbe Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the Baal HaTanya, and son-in-law of his uncle, the Mitteler Rebbe, R. Dov Ber Shneuri. He was orphaned of his mother at the age of three, and was raised as a cherished son in the home of his grandfather the Baal HaTanya, remaining faithfully at his side for many years. After the passing of his father-in-law the Mitteler Rebbe in 1827, he began leading the Chabad Chassidut, a position he held for over 36 years.
Under the Tzemach Tzedek's leadership, the Chabad Chassidic court expanded greatly, until it became the largest faction of Russian Jewry. Hundreds of thousands of Jews from throughout Belarus, Lithuania and Ukraine followed the Tzemach Tzedek, cleaving to him with absolute devotion. The Tzemach Tzedek was the authoritative figure in all personal and communal matters of Belarus Jewry – "Every marital match, divorce and business deal, was only concluded with his blessing. Every dispute was brought to be judged before him.
Without his approbation, no community appointed a rabbi nor Shochet… all the needs of the Jewish people were beknown to him, their business dealings, familial and communal lives" (Alexander Ziskind Rabinowitz – Azar, History of the Schneersohn Family, HaAsif, 1889, p. 166).
The Tzemach Tzedek participated in various conferences convened by the Tsarist government, to determine many crucial communal matters relating to Russian Jewry. During these conferences, he fiercely opposed the maskilim who wished to revise the Jewish education system.
The Tzemach Tzedek was a leading halachic authority of his generation. He issued thousands of responsa (many of which were lost in the great fire of 1859. The remaining responsa were printed in the Responsa series Tzemach Tzedek, which includes over one thousand responsa to rabbis and dayanim). The Tzemach Tzedek also disseminated the teachings of his grandfather the Baal HaTanya, whether via his thousands of oral discourses, or through his prolific writing – in Halacha, Chassidut and Kabbalah. The books that the Tzemach Tzedek edited and published – Torah Or and Likutei Torah were heavily censored by the Russian authorities; dozens of sections of the original text were omitted and censored. These sections were copied by his disciples and some were later printed as supplements to new editions of Torah Or and Likutei Torah. R. Eliyahu Yosef Rivlin, author of Ohalei Yosef, a foremost disciple of the Tzemach Tzedek, was in the possession of a copy of Likutei Torah, the volumes of which were filled with marginalia – copyings from the manuscript of his teacher Tzemach Tzedek, including sectioned omitted by the censorship and not yet printed (see: R. Yehoshua Mondshine, HaMasa HaAcharon, pp. 140-143, and in the notes).

Incomplete copy. 3-128; 88 leaves. Lacking 14 leaves: title page and four following leaves, and nine final leaves (originally: [3], 128; 97 leaves). 21 cm. Poor-fair condition. Significant stains and extensive wear. Tears and significant worming, with extensive damage to text. Detached leaves. Without binding. Glosses: some trimmed and faded. Worming and tears, affecting some glosses.