A stand for a yahrzeit candle [or a Rosh Chodesh candle]. Cast with impressed and etched decorations. German or Poland?, 20th century.
Stand for yahrzeit candle in the shape of a four-cornered altar decorated with Stars of David impressed on its base. On the sides of the base are four plaques with protruding decorations of the constellations of Libra (scales), Pisces (fish), lion and kid. The sides of the stand are made of glass windows. Above the windows are four large Stars of David. At their vertex is another base shaped like and altar.
At the head of the stand is an eagle clutching in its claws the two tablets of law with the Ten Commandments hand-etched (on both sides) and supported by a pair of lions. The tablets of law are standing on a dome shaped like a Star of David.
We have never seen a similar item; presumably this was done by personal order.
Height of base: 18 cm. Maximal height: 37 cm. Width: 16 cm. Weight 3.5kg

A letter by Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer Av Beit Din of Pressburg, to Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ulman Av Beit Din of Mako. Pressburg, 1859.
The letter is in reply to the letter of the author of Yeriot Shlomo that requested that he join those who prohibit something that the reformists wished to permit. The Ktav Sofer writes in reply: "and he has asked a difficult thing from me to write in a manner of imposing a prohibition on this… and to write that the thing is prohibited, they certainly will not accept this because they will say that this is not prohibited, especially since the reformists have permitted…".
The Gaon Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer (1815-1872), the firstborn son of the Chatam Sofer and his successor in the Rabbanut and as the Head of the Pressburg Yeshiva. One of the greatest rabbis of his generation. His disciples were senior rabbis in Hungary and its surroundings. His compilations of responsa, his novella on the Talmud and on the Torah were called by the name Ktav Sofer.
The recipient of the letter: The Gaon Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ulman (1792-1863), author of Yeriot Shlomo, amongst the great Hungarian rabbis, was appointed to the Rabbanut by the efforts of the Chatam Sofer and he served decades as the Rabbi of the city of Mako.
Rabbi Shlomo Zalman was a relative of the Ktav Sofer. His father-in-law was Rabbi Simcha Bunim Eiger, the Rav of Mattersdorf, the brother of Rabbi Akiva Eiger and the uncle of the Ktav Sofer's mother. This relationship is noted in the titles opening the letter: "my relative by marriage the Rabbi the Gaon the Kadosh…". Already during the life of the Chatam Sofer, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman was amongst the senior rabbis of Hungary that supported the systems set up by the Chatam Sofer for guarding the religion and Torah law, opposing the reformists belonging to the circles of neologism. The echoes of this struggle we find in this historic letter.
28.5cm. Poor condition, many damages from ink burns.

A letter with the signature of Rabbi Yeshaya Banet, to Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ulman Av Beit Din of Mako. Kalow, 1959.
"I have been asked to confirm the question put to me about… those who wish to destroy the basics of religion…". In the letter he mentions the renowned Gaon of the Holy Community of Grosswardien."
Rabbi Yeshaya Banet (1793-1866, Otzar HaRabbanim 11673), was a tremendous gaon and tzaddik. The son of the Maharam Banet and the son-in-law of the author of Shemen Rokeach. He served as Rabbi of Mislitz (Moravia), and after his father's death and upon the spreading of the Haskala (Enlightement) Movement in Moravia, moved to Kalow in Hungary where he succeeded the Tzaddik of Kaliv and was chosen as Chief Rabbi of the Savaltch region (in his letter he signs: Av Beit Din of Kamidat Savaltch). One of the senior warriors of the Charedi struggle in Hungary against the reformists.
25cm. Good condition. Stains and fold marks.

A letter by the Gaon Rabbi Menachem Ash Av Beit Din of Ungvar, to Rabbi Yisrael Ulman. Ungvar, Isru Chag Pesach, 1866.
Rabbi Menachem Eisenshteter – Maharam Ash the Second (1908-1970, Otzar HaRabbanim 13208), author of Chomat Esh. Son and successor of Rabbi Meir Ash Av Beit Din of Ungvar, who was one of the senior disciples of the Chatam Sofer and grandson of Rabbi David Deitch, author of Ohel David. Rabbi Menachem Ash is considered one of the senior rabbis and heads of yeshiva in Hungary. Some of his renowned disciples are: Rabbi Eliezer Deitch Av Beit Din of Bonihad, author of Tvu'ot Hasadeh and Rabbi Yoseph Meir Weiss (the Admor, author of Imrei Yoseph of Sphinka). See his eulogy in the book Hayashar V'hatov by his friend and comrade the Admor Rabbi Zvi Hirsh of Liska.
The recipient of the letter: The Gaon Rabbi Yisrael Ulman, son of the Rbbi of Mako Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ulman, author of Yeriot Shlomo.
21cm. Good condition (damage to the back leaf, the letter itself is in very good condition). On the last leaf an address is written in a foreign language, post stamping and wax stamp.