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First edition of the ethical will and testament of R. Jekuthiel Judah ben Moses ben Amram (Arugot ha-Bosem) Grunwald. The title page states that these are the words that he engraved with his pen áòèå an in his time áòúå prior to his ascent to heaven, “that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord” (Genesis 18:19). It is dated “your light and your truth àåøê åàîúê (694 = 1934)” (Psalms 43:3). There is an introduction form his son and then the text in a single column in rabbinic type. R. Grunwald’s ethical will has proven to be an important and much reprinted model of this last will’s and testaments and has even been translated into English.
R. Jekuthiel Judah ben Moses Grunwald (1845–1920) was a Hungarian rabbi. He was born in Brez, and served as rabbi of Szobotisz for seven years, of Bonyhad a further seven years, of Surany for two and a half years, and of Szatmar (Satu-Mare) for 22 years. In Szatmar he founded a large yeshivah which achieved a wide reputation. After his death several of his works were published. The most important of them is the responsa Zikhron Yehudah (Budapest-Satoraljaujhely, 1923–28) in two parts. In part 1 (no. 187) he discusses whether one may associate with Zionists and expresses the fear that through Zionism "an opportunity will be given for us to be attacked and to make us disliked by the gentile countries." Another responsum (no. 200) to R. Joseph Hayyim Sonnenfeld in Jerusalem, dated 1913, on whether it is permitted to associate with the Agudat Israel, was removed from the volume and replaced by a responsum on whether it is permitted to handle food and drink on the Day of Atonement in order to give it to children. Others of his published works are: Shevet mi-Yhudah (2 pts., 1922), on the Pentateuch; Hasdei Avot (1925), on the tractate Avot; Olelot Yehudah, a commentary on Psalms (1927); and She'erit Yehudah (1938), on the Pentateuch.
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