Auction 66 - Rare and Important Items
Document of Representation Handwritten and Signed by the Aruch LaNer and his Beit Din – Altona, 1859
Opening: $2,000
Estimate: $3,000 - $5,000
Sold for: $2,500
Including buyer's premium
Handwritten document, authorizing and designating an emissary to hand over a divorce, signed by two witnesses and three dayanim: R. Yaakov Yokev Ettlinger author of Aruch LaNer, and his fellow dayanim: R. Yechezkel Joelsohn and R. Yaakov son of Maharam Katz. Altona, Nissan 1859.
The entire document was presumably written in the handwriting of the Aruch LaNer, rabbi of the city.
R. Yaakov Yokev Ettlinger (1789-1872), chief rabbi of Altona and the region, was a foremost leader of German Jewry and a fierce opponent of the Reform movement. In his youth, he taught in the yeshiva of his father, R. Aharon Ettlinger, in Karlsruhe, and was a primary disciple of R. Asher Wallerstein, rabbi of Karlsruhe, son of the Shaagat Aryeh. He also studied in the Würzburg yeshiva headed by R. Avraham Bing and was a colleague of Chacham Yitzchak Bernays of Hamburg and of R. Elazar Bergman of Jerusalem.
Around 1828, he was appointed yeshiva dean and rabbi of the Mannheim Kloiz, and in 1836, began his tenure as rabbi of the Three Communities (Altona, Hamburg and Wandsbek), where he established a prominent yeshiva. R. Yaakov Ettlinger dedicated his life to disseminating Torah and his disciples included leading German rabbis. Among them are R. Samson Refael Hirsch; R. Azriel Hildesheimer; R. Tzvi Binyamin Auerbach - rabbi of Halberstadt and author of Nachal Eshkol; R. Getsch Schlesinger - dayan in Hamburg; R. Eliyahu Munk - dayan in Altona, and his son R. Yehuda Munk Rabbi of Marburg; R. Ze'ev Yitzchak HaLevi Dunner of Cologne - author of Lichvod Amudei HaTorah; R. Moshe Weisskopf Rabbi of Paris; and other renowned disciples who were the glory of German communities of that generation.
He authored the following books: Aruch LaNer on Talmudic tractates, Bikurei Yaakov, Responsa Binyan Zion, Minchat Ani on the Torah, and others, and was the founder and author of the Orthodox periodical Shomer Tzion HaNe'eman. Until this day, his books are studied in Torah study halls and his teachings are extensively cited in halachic literature. Already in his days, he was considered a leading halachic authority and halachic questions were sent to him from Jerusalem and from all over the world. In several dispensations for agunot, R. Yosef Shaul Nathansohn wrote that he permits their remarriage, on condition the "Altona Gaon" concurs with his decision (Shoel UMeshiv, Telitaa, II, 216; III, 87). He was the supreme authority among German rabbis, and even the great Torah scholar from Würzburg, R. Yitzchak Dov Bamberger, wrote that he presented all difficult issues before the leading Torah authorities of his time, R. Mendel Kargau and his mechutan R. Yaakov Ettlinger (Responsa Yad HaLevi, Jerusalem 1988, p. 60). After his passing and the death of the Ktav Sofer that same year, Rebbe Menachem Mendel of Deyzh wrote that they were "the righteous men of that generation" (Maaglei Tzedek, I, Parashat Vaera).
The second dayan: R. Yechezkel Joelsohn head of the Altona Beit din (1789-1885), a disciple of R. Akiva Eger. He was a member of the Altona Kloiz from 1832, and after three years, began serving as dayan, later heading the Altona Beit Din. See: Chachmei A.H.W, pp. 136-137.
The third dayan: R. Yaakov Katz (1808-1905), a disciple of the Chatam Sofer. In 1834, he was accepted as a member of the Altona Kloiz. He served as dayan and maggid in Altona for sixty years. See: Chachmei A.H.W., pp. 150-152.
[1] double leaf. 34 cm. Good-fair condition. Wear and minor tears to margins and folds.
The entire document was presumably written in the handwriting of the Aruch LaNer, rabbi of the city.
R. Yaakov Yokev Ettlinger (1789-1872), chief rabbi of Altona and the region, was a foremost leader of German Jewry and a fierce opponent of the Reform movement. In his youth, he taught in the yeshiva of his father, R. Aharon Ettlinger, in Karlsruhe, and was a primary disciple of R. Asher Wallerstein, rabbi of Karlsruhe, son of the Shaagat Aryeh. He also studied in the Würzburg yeshiva headed by R. Avraham Bing and was a colleague of Chacham Yitzchak Bernays of Hamburg and of R. Elazar Bergman of Jerusalem.
Around 1828, he was appointed yeshiva dean and rabbi of the Mannheim Kloiz, and in 1836, began his tenure as rabbi of the Three Communities (Altona, Hamburg and Wandsbek), where he established a prominent yeshiva. R. Yaakov Ettlinger dedicated his life to disseminating Torah and his disciples included leading German rabbis. Among them are R. Samson Refael Hirsch; R. Azriel Hildesheimer; R. Tzvi Binyamin Auerbach - rabbi of Halberstadt and author of Nachal Eshkol; R. Getsch Schlesinger - dayan in Hamburg; R. Eliyahu Munk - dayan in Altona, and his son R. Yehuda Munk Rabbi of Marburg; R. Ze'ev Yitzchak HaLevi Dunner of Cologne - author of Lichvod Amudei HaTorah; R. Moshe Weisskopf Rabbi of Paris; and other renowned disciples who were the glory of German communities of that generation.
He authored the following books: Aruch LaNer on Talmudic tractates, Bikurei Yaakov, Responsa Binyan Zion, Minchat Ani on the Torah, and others, and was the founder and author of the Orthodox periodical Shomer Tzion HaNe'eman. Until this day, his books are studied in Torah study halls and his teachings are extensively cited in halachic literature. Already in his days, he was considered a leading halachic authority and halachic questions were sent to him from Jerusalem and from all over the world. In several dispensations for agunot, R. Yosef Shaul Nathansohn wrote that he permits their remarriage, on condition the "Altona Gaon" concurs with his decision (Shoel UMeshiv, Telitaa, II, 216; III, 87). He was the supreme authority among German rabbis, and even the great Torah scholar from Würzburg, R. Yitzchak Dov Bamberger, wrote that he presented all difficult issues before the leading Torah authorities of his time, R. Mendel Kargau and his mechutan R. Yaakov Ettlinger (Responsa Yad HaLevi, Jerusalem 1988, p. 60). After his passing and the death of the Ktav Sofer that same year, Rebbe Menachem Mendel of Deyzh wrote that they were "the righteous men of that generation" (Maaglei Tzedek, I, Parashat Vaera).
The second dayan: R. Yechezkel Joelsohn head of the Altona Beit din (1789-1885), a disciple of R. Akiva Eger. He was a member of the Altona Kloiz from 1832, and after three years, began serving as dayan, later heading the Altona Beit Din. See: Chachmei A.H.W, pp. 136-137.
The third dayan: R. Yaakov Katz (1808-1905), a disciple of the Chatam Sofer. In 1834, he was accepted as a member of the Altona Kloiz. He served as dayan and maggid in Altona for sixty years. See: Chachmei A.H.W., pp. 150-152.
[1] double leaf. 34 cm. Good-fair condition. Wear and minor tears to margins and folds.
Letters – Hungarian, German and Central-European Rabbis
Letters – Hungarian, German and Central-European Rabbis