Few names from the early chassidic era draw as much awe as that of the holy R. Shmelke of Nikolsburg (1726-1778), a leading talmid of R. Dov Ber of Mezeritch. R. Shmelke held positions as rabbi of Rychwal and Sieniawa, in Southern and South-Eastern Poland, and introduced chassidut to the region, drawing a large following despite many efforts to depose him. Many of his talmidim evolved to become famous rebbes in their own right, among them R. Yaakov Yitzchak, the Chozeh of Lublin; R. Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev; and R. Yisroel Hopstein of Kozhnitz.
He later accepted the rabbinical position of Chief Rabbi of Moravia, where he settled in Nikolsburg and drew a passionate following, winning over many of the local Jews to chassidut. Some of his talmidim from this period include R. Menachem Mendel of Rimanov, R. Mordecai Benet and R. Moshe Leib of Sassov. While R. Shmelke wrote several important sefarim, almost nothing in his handwriting survived to this day and anything in his writing coming up for sale is extremely rare. It was thus exciting when I was able to broker a sale this week of handwritten chiddushim on Masechet Ketuvot entirely in his handwriting.
While the provenance of this handwriting was good, having been owned and kept within the family of the Ruzhin/Sadigura rebbes, authenticating such handwriting can be a challenge, being that almost no handwriting of his is known. The only other record of his handwriting I was able to track down was a document of a sale of a beit medrash property in Rychwal, the location of his first Rabbinical Position. A careful comparison with the known manuscript was necessary and consultation with experts needed to confirm.
