Lot 286
Letter of R. Yosef Leib Sofer – Paks, 1910 – Polemic on Yerushalmi Kodashim
Letter on postcard, handwritten and signed by R. Yosef Leib Sofer, Rabbi of Paks. Paks, [Av 1910].
Sent to [the young] R. Yekutiel Yehudah Greenwald during his involvement in the controversy over the forged Talmud Yerushalmi, regarding his correspondence with R. Meir Dan Plotzky. In the letter he relates that R. Plotzky mentioned to him that R. Greenwald had disparaged him, and he asks R. Greenwald his reasons for doing so and subsequently retracting.
R. Yosef Leib (Yehudah) Sofer, Rabbi of Paks (1861-1918), author of Yalkut Sofer, student of the Pressburg yeshiva under the Shevet Sofer, and of the Bonyhád yeshiva under R. Zekel Pollack and his son R. Moshe Pollack.
The recipient of the letter, R. Yekutiel Yehudah Greenwald (1889-1951), studied under R. Shmuel Rosenberg in Unsdorf (Huncovce) and in the Khust yeshiva of Rebbe Moshe Grünwald, the Arugat HaBosem. He published dozens of books and articles on halachah and history of Hungarian Jewry. He immigrated to the United States in 1924 and served as Rabbi in Brooklyn and Columbus.
In an article he published in 1951, he recounts his involvement in the controversy over the forged Talmud Yerushalmi on Kodashim, admitting his childish insolence in his correspondence with R. Meir Dan Plotzky, until R. Yosef Leib Sofer, Rabbi of Paks, reprimanded him for it (see enclosed material).
Postcard. 14 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, including dampstains. Postmarks.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
