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Important responsa which deal to a great extent with the laws of agunah. The condition of the agunah is a particularly sensitive issue in halakhah. An agunah is defined as a married woman who, for whatsoever reason, is separated from her husband and cannot remarry, either because she cannot obtain a divorce from him or because it is unknown whether he is still alive. The term is also applied to a yevamah (a levirate widow; if she cannot obtain halizah from the levir or if it is unknown whether he is still alive (Git. 26b, 33a; Yev. 94a; and Posekim). The problem of the agunah is one of the most complex in halakhic discussions and is treated in great detail in halakhic literature.
R. Mordecai Ze'ev ben Isaac Aaron Segal Ettinger (Ittinga,1804–1863), Polish rabbinical scholar, and scion of a long line of rabbis. He studied under R. Naphtali Hirsch Sohastov, rabbi of Lemberg, and under his own uncle, R. Jacob Ornstein. Although renowned for his great scholarship, he never occupied a rabbinical position, his considerable personal fortune rendering him independent. In 1857 he was chosen rabbi of Cracow and its environs and indicated his acceptance but changed his mind. He served as “nasi of the Holy Land” of the Austrian kolel, an honorable position always given to the greatest of the rabbis. In this capacity he did much to help consolidate the position of the Jewish community in Erez Israel. He studied together with his brother-in-law, R. Joseph Saul ha-Levi Nathanson, many joint works resulting from their 25 years of collaboration.
First and foremost of them was Mefareshei ha-Yam (Lemberg, 1827), novellae and elucidation appended to the Yam ha-Talmud on the tractate Bava Kamma, by their uncle, R. Moses Joshua Heshel Ornstein of Tarnogrod; at the end of this work is included their halakhic correspondence with such contemporaries as R. Moses Sofer, R. Mordecai Banet, and R. Akiva Eger. Their remaining joint works to be noted are; Me'irat Einayim (Vilna, 1839), a work in 7 sections on the inspection of animals' lungs; Magen Gibborim, 1 (Lemberg, 1834), 2 (Zolkieve, 1839), two commentaries on the first 235 chapters of the Shulhan Arukh, Orah Hayyim; glosses to and emendations of the glosses of R. Mordecai Jaffe on the Talmud (published in the Romm Vilna edition of the Talmud); Ma'aseh Alfas (in the Romm Vilna edition of Alfasi),glosses on the halakhot of R. Isaac Alfasi and the Mordecai; Ner Ma'aravi. a commentary on the Jerusalem Talmud which includes references under the title Ein Mishpat and glosses thereto entitled Gilyon ha-Shas (published in the Piotrkow 1859–60 edition of the Jerusalem Talmud).
This fruitful partnership ended in 1859, R. Ettinger having published in R. Solomon Kluger of Brod's booklet Moda'ah le-Veit Yisrael (1859), which contained a ban against machine-baked mazzot, whereupon Nathanson published a contrary opinion in a booklet called Bittul Moda'ah (1859). After the rift with his brother-in-law, R. Ettinger devoted himself to study together with his son R. Isaac Aaron (Ma'amar Mordekhai, no. 58), and decided to publish responsa and novellae independently. A collection of his responsa, Shevet Ahim, has remained in manuscript. |
