Kotnot Or - By Rabbi Meir Margolies, Author of Meir Netivim, Disciple of the Baal Shem Tov - Berditchev, 1816 - ...

Kotnot Or - By Rabbi Meir Margolies, Author of Meir Netivim, Disciple of the Baal Shem Tov - Berditchev, 1816 - Copy of Rebbe Shlomo Friedman of Chortkov
Kotnot Or, 613 commandments in rhyme and acrostics, by R. Meir Margolies Rabbi of Lviv and Ostroh, author of Meir Netivim, foremost disciple of the Baal Shem Tov. With the Shemen LaMaor Gadol commentary, by his son R. Betzalel Margolies Rabbi of Ostroh (who added at the beginning of the book a special prayer which he composed, to be recited before saying the order of commandments). [Berditchev (Berdychiv): Shmuel son of Yissachar Ber Segal, 1816]. First edition.
Kotnot Or contains the order of the 613 commandments in poems, rhyme and acrostics. "Each commandment has three stanzas and each stanza three words". The section on positive commandments is named Kotnot Or, and the section on negative commandments, Or Torah. All the poems in the section of positive commandments are acrostics spelling out: "Meir son of the great luminary, outstanding in Torah and fear, R. Tzvi Hirsh" (in some poems, "renowned" replaces "outstanding"), whilst the poems in the section on negative commandments are acrostics of "Meir, small in wisdom and intellect". On the right-hand pages, twenty lines of rhymes are printed, one line per commandment.
A commentary to the rhymes, named Shemen LaMaor Gadol, is printed at the foot of the right-hand pages and on the left-hand pages. This commentary was composed by the publisher and son of the author - R. Betzalel Margolies Rabbi of Ostroh. The publisher R. Betzalel, who also wrote a lengthy foreword to the book, suggests there to read every day one page containing twenty commandments, and he even printed at the beginning of the book a short supplication to recite before reading the commandments.
At the beginning of the book, a notice is printed, informing that due to the heavy costs of printing, the approbations were not printed, and only the names of those who accorded an approbation to the book are listed, including R. Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, R. Zusha of Anipoli, the Maggid of Kozhnitz, the Ohev Yisrael of Apta, R. Yosef of Kaminka and others.
Stamps on title page: "Rabbi Shlomo Friedman of Chortkov" - stamps of Rebbe Shlomo Friedman of Chortkov (1894-1958, Encyclopedia L'Chassidut, III, p. 713), author of Divrei Shlomo, was the son of Rebbe Nachum Mordechai of Chortkov and son-in-law of Rebbe Yisrael Friedman of Sadigura. He succeeded his father as Rebbe in Tel-Aviv, 1946, and was the last Rebbe of the Chortkov dynasty.
34, [1] leaves. 20 cm. Bluish-greenish paper. Good condition. Stains. Light worming to several leaves, slightly affecting text. Stamps and inscriptions on title page. New binding.
Stefansky Chassidut, no. 247.