HALBERSTAM, SOLOMON (Zalman) ḤAYYIM

HALBERSTAM, SOLOMON (Zalman ) ḤAYYIM (known from his acronym as ShaZHaH ; 1832–1900), Polish scholar and bibliophile. Halberstam was born in Cracow and studied with his father, Isaac Halberstam, an eminent talmudist. During his years as a successful merchant in Bielsko (Bielitz), Poland, he collected rare books and manuscripts. He studied some and lent others to Jewish scholars. Halberstam was one of the founders of the *Mekize Nirdamim society. In addition to scholarly articles and notes to the works of other scholars, he published with introductions and notes some of the manuscripts from his library, among them being *Yom Tov b. Abraham's novellae on tractate Niddah, Ḥiddushei ha-Ritba (1868); Abraham *Ibn Ezra's Sefer ha-Ibbur (1874); and *Judah b. Barzillai's Sefer ha-Shetarot (1898) and Perush Sefer Yeẓirah (1885). In 1890 he published Kohelet Shelomo, a catalog of his manuscripts which listed 411 items. After Halberstam's death most of his manuscripts were sold to the Judith Montefiore College in Ramsgate, England, and are now at Jews' College, London. The majority of the printed books in his library and a small part of his manuscript collection were acquired by the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York and the library of the Vienna community. Most of his correspondence is preserved in the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary. Halberstam also wrote notes to H. Michael's bibliographical work Or ha-Ḥayyim (in the Mosad ha-Rav Kook edition, 1965).

bibliography:

N. Sokolow (ed.), Sefer Zikkaron le-Soferei Yisrael ha-Ḥayyim Ittanu ha-Yom, (1889), 28; G. Bader, Medinah ve-Hakhameha (1934), 76–77; Davidson, in: Yad va-Shem… A.S. Freidus (1929), 1–14 (Heb. sect.); Zeitlin, Bibliotheca, index; B. Wachstein et al. (eds.) Hebraeische Publizistik in Wien, 2 (1930), 17; Shunami, Bibl., 890.

[Abraham Meir Habermann]