Two handwritten deeds of arbitration, regarding real-estate disputes. Signed by the parties. Telz (Lithuania), 1878 and 1898. The second deed is in the handwriting of the rabbi of the city, Rabbi Eliezer Gordon.
Rabbi Eliezer Gordon (1841-1910), founder and head of the Telz Yeshiva. Av Beit Din of Slabodka, Kelm and Telz. A close disciple of Rabbi Yisrael of Salant, he served in his yeshiva in Kovno for a while. Afterward, he was appointed Rabbi of Slobodka. From 1874, he served as Av Beit Din of Kelm and established the Kelm yeshiva. In 1884, he relocated to serve in the Telz rabbinate and stood at the helm of the Telz Yeshiva which eventually grew to become one of the largest yeshivas in the world, while the city of Telz became the most prominent Torah center in Lithuania for more than 50 years.
Rabbi Eliezer who was an exceptional Torah prodigy and a deep scholar left his stamp on the yeshiva and instituted the logical method of study. He appointed Rabbi Shimon Shkop and later Rabbi Chaim Rabinowitz as lecturers in the yeshiva. Among his renowned disciples are Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman and Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, the Ponovezh Rav. Rabbi Eliezer was also a leader of worldwide Charedi Jews in his days. He headed various rabbinical conventions and was a one of the main initiators of the public organization for founding the Agudat Yisrael movement. In 1910, the Telz Yeshiva had a severe financial setback and Rabbi Eliezer was forced to travel to England to collect funds. On this visit, he suddenly died in Adar 1910 and was buried in a London cemetery.
His son-in-law Rabbi Yosef Leib Bloch, author of Shi'urei Da'at and lecturer in the yeshiva during the time of Rabbi Shimon Shkop, succeeded him. He held both positions as head of the Telz Yeshiva and rabbi of the city for twenty years.
2 leaves. Size varies. Good to fair condition.