Boro Park Snapshot: Seforim World

The walls of Olam Haseforim are adorned with the world of
yesteryear, the kol korehs and pashkevillen that drove and inspired Yidden
generations ago.
On one side is a sign, its black on yellow letters screaming
to residents of Yerushalayim of old to “t’nu kavod la’Torah” and pay respects
to the two sons of the Vizhnitzer rebbe who were arriving from Romania — the
future rebbes, Rav Moshe Yehoshua and Rav Mottel Hager. On another side is a poster
proclaiming “Yechi adoneinu moreinu v’rabbeinu” to welcome the Satmar rov, Rav
Yoel Teitelbaum, when he came to Eretz Yisroel after the war. A third calls
people to a hesped to be delivered on the petira of Rav Meir Shapiro, the
founder of Yeshiva Chachmei Lublin and organizer of daf yomi.
The store, otherwise known as Seforim World, is certainly not
the typical Judaica store, Yehuda Zevulun Klitnick, the owner who started it 35
years ago, told boropark24.com’s Heshy
Rubinstein in an interview.
“This store is a unique one,” Mr. Klitnick said. “You could
buy new seforim anywhere. But there are some people that look for interesting
seforim that you don’t find in an average seforim store. We are built for those
people. We also have old seforim that belonged to tzaddikim, items that were
owned and used by tzaddikim.”
Walk into Olam Haseforim, located at 4403 16th Ave., and you
are more likely to find seforim older than you, coins stamped with a date from
a century ago or stamps from more places than Marco Polo visited.
Many people who purchase the antique seforim are usually as
gifts for rabbanim or bar mitzvah presents for the boy who has it all, Mr.
Klitnick said.
He usually gets them from people who are niftar and leave
behind libraries. The heirs may decide not to go through the yellowing sets and
just choose to give it all away to someone who can properly categorize and care
for them.
Mr. Klitnick also sought out the vast number of seforim
laying around Europe years ago, abandoned since the Nazi war machine eliminated
their owners who lovingly treasured them. He traveled several times to Russia
and Hungary two decades ago. Now, he said sadly, that market has dried up for
collectors such as him.
One person in particular was a steady supplier of old
seforim for Mr. Klitnick. Moshe Weiss, the gabbai of the Kozhitzer beis medrash
in Pest, had an enormous house above the shul that contained entire rooms full
of seforim. Mr. Klitnick also received seforim from Rabbi Yitzchok Wolpin, formerly
of Minsk, who would purchase old seforim for him.
Letters for sale include ones from as disparate figures as the
Husyatener rebbe, Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv and the Pupa Rebbe. A silver cane
leans against a wall, a remnant of the Tolna rebbe of Philadelphia.
The rebbe, Rav Moshe Tzvi Twersky, did not leave behind any
children and left his extensive seforim library to the Scranton yeshiva. Some of
his personal effects, however, were unwittingly sold with the house after his
passing.
“Someone who was not Jewish bought his house,” Mr. Klitnick
recalled. “They called me and said they found two things in the house — a tabak
pushka and this stick.”
The stick is for sale for $800 and the tobacco case for
$500.
He also sells coins from around the world for the amateur
numismatist and an array of stamps. Among his coin collection are currency used
by Yidden in the ghettos during World War II.
In his private life, Mr. Klitnick is the publisher of Pardes
Yehuda, a weekly pamphlet that appears in shuls around the world each Shabbos.
Written in both Yiddish and English, it contains stories of tzaddikim and
Divrei Torah on the parsha.
The coronavirus took a bite out of sales, but he was able to
pick up other business without customers having to come to his store.
“Boruch Hashem there are telephones,” he said. “And there’s also a post office.”