Tomer Devorah. Gaon Yisrael 'Iggeret HaMussar' by Rabbi Yisrael Salanter. First Edition. Konigsberg, 1858.

Tomer Devorah. Gaon Yisrael 'Iggeret HaMussar' by Rabbi Yisrael Salanter. First Edition. Konigsberg, 1858.

Tomer Devorah kabbalistic mussar composition by Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, the Ari's rabbi. Gaon Yisrael. Rabbi Yisrael Salanter's Iggeret HaMussar, first edition. Konigsberg, 1858.

Specifications: [1] 25 leaves, 18 cm. Without the leaf before the title page which is found in only some of the copies.

Unique Features: First edition of Iggeret Gaon Yisrael, printed in Konigsberg, Rabbi Yisrael Salanter's city of residence, founder of the mussar movement. In all subsequent editions, it is called Iggeret HaMussar. This is his first publication in print.

The publisher included an important lengthy mussar comment as well, attributed to the the "Alter of Kelm" Rabbi Simchah Zissel Ziv, Rabbi Yisrael's greatest student and founder of the the "Kelm" mussar yeshiva. Refer to the introduction to Tomer Devorah, Bnei Brak edition 1958, page 13.

Background: Rabbi Yisrael Salanter refused to submit his Torah thoughts for print until he was about 48 years old. This despite his renown over the entire Jewish world. He first agreed to it in 1958, and apparently made it conditional upon the publication of one of the early mussar books, and to append the Iggeret to it. Indeed, in Konigsberg, his city of residence, the book Tomer Devorah before us was printed, Rabbi Yisrael Salanter agreed that this Iggeret be attached to it. Refer to: M. Pachter, Kitvei Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, Jerusalem 1973, p. 34, 64-65.

Condition: Fine. Aging stains. Simple binding.