Auction 19 - Books, Manuscripts and Rabbinical Letters
Or Yisrael Responsa, Kleve 1770 - Original Edition with Polemic on the Issue of "The Kleve Get"
Opening: $1,200
Sold for: $1,500
Including buyer's premium
Or Yisrael, questions and answers by Rabbi Yisrael Lifshitz. Kleve, 1770. Newly printed here in Kleve. The only Hebrew book printed in Kleve.
Rabbi Yisrael Lifshitz Rabbi of the city of Kleve (grandfather of the author of "Tiferet Yisrael"), arranged a get for a couple from the city of Bonne. The husband who was somewhat deranged escaped from Germany to England from fear of death (or persecution complex), and on the way divorced his wife in the city of Kleve (adjacent to the German-Dutch border). Scholars of Frankfurt and Manheim invalidated the get claiming that the husband was not fit to divorce ("Get Shoteh") and they emerged with sharp proclamations against the Kleve rabbi. Conversely, most of the generation's leading rabbis (the "Sha'agat Aryeh", Rabbi Yitzchak of Hamburg, Rabbi Shaul of Amsterdam and his uncle Rabbi Ya'akov Emden, the "Nodah M'Yehuda" etc.), ruled according to Rabbi Lifshitz's opinion, that the husband was considered sane and fit for divorce. The polemic caused a storm in the Jewish world at that time.
The book deals primarily with this issue and its aftermath, printed on leaves 31-32 are responsa from Rabbi Aryeh Leib, Av Beit Din of Hanover, Rabbi Yitzchak of Hamburg and an article with very critical expressions against Frankfurt scholars. These leaves were omitted from most of the copies and were partially printed with changes on one leaf. In this rare copy, these two leaves exist (compare with the censored copy in next item). In several places, the critical expressions are erased with ink, [some of these erasures also exist in the censored copy in next item, and apparently were done in the original by the publisher who was Rabbi Lifshitz's son].
66, 69-120 leaves. 19 cm. Good condition. Stains and minor damage. Antique worn parchment binding. Owner's ancient signature "Avraham ---". Mistaken inscription on title page: "Leaves 31 and 32 were omitted because of something that occurred" [actually, the rare leaves exist].
Rabbi Yisrael Lifshitz Rabbi of the city of Kleve (grandfather of the author of "Tiferet Yisrael"), arranged a get for a couple from the city of Bonne. The husband who was somewhat deranged escaped from Germany to England from fear of death (or persecution complex), and on the way divorced his wife in the city of Kleve (adjacent to the German-Dutch border). Scholars of Frankfurt and Manheim invalidated the get claiming that the husband was not fit to divorce ("Get Shoteh") and they emerged with sharp proclamations against the Kleve rabbi. Conversely, most of the generation's leading rabbis (the "Sha'agat Aryeh", Rabbi Yitzchak of Hamburg, Rabbi Shaul of Amsterdam and his uncle Rabbi Ya'akov Emden, the "Nodah M'Yehuda" etc.), ruled according to Rabbi Lifshitz's opinion, that the husband was considered sane and fit for divorce. The polemic caused a storm in the Jewish world at that time.
The book deals primarily with this issue and its aftermath, printed on leaves 31-32 are responsa from Rabbi Aryeh Leib, Av Beit Din of Hanover, Rabbi Yitzchak of Hamburg and an article with very critical expressions against Frankfurt scholars. These leaves were omitted from most of the copies and were partially printed with changes on one leaf. In this rare copy, these two leaves exist (compare with the censored copy in next item). In several places, the critical expressions are erased with ink, [some of these erasures also exist in the censored copy in next item, and apparently were done in the original by the publisher who was Rabbi Lifshitz's son].
66, 69-120 leaves. 19 cm. Good condition. Stains and minor damage. Antique worn parchment binding. Owner's ancient signature "Avraham ---". Mistaken inscription on title page: "Leaves 31 and 32 were omitted because of something that occurred" [actually, the rare leaves exist].
Polemics
Polemics