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Bidding Information
Lot #    18166
Auction End Date    6/12/2007 11:23:00 AM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Letter by R. Hillel haKohen Klein
Title (Hebrew)    îëúá îä'ø äìì äëäï ÷ìééï
Author    [Ms.]
City    New York
Publication Date    1917
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    [1] p., mm., ink on stationary, light age staining, Ashkenazic script, signed and dated.
          
Detailed
Description		    Letter by R. Hillel HaKohen (Philip) b. Zev Tzvi Klein (1849-1926), Rabbi of Congregation Ohev Tzedek. R. Klein was born in the town of Bartcka, Hungary. From his early childhood it was apparent that he was endowed with unusual abilities. At age 11 he already knew the entire Tanach by rote and was well versed in Seder Nezikim. At the age 12 he became a pupil of R. Abraham Samuel Benjamin Sofer (Ktav Sofer) of the famous Pressburg Yeshiva. Subsequently he became a pupil of and lecturer in the Yeshiva of R. Ezriel Hildesheimer in Eisenstadt. In 1871 R. Klien was ordained by R. Hildesheimer and R. Benjamin Tzvi Auerbach of Halberstadt. In 1874, R. Klien moved to Kiev, Ukraine where he served as a private tutor for the son of a wealthy merchant. In 1880 he became the Rav in the town of Libau, Latvia (on the Baltic Sea). A year later he married Julie Hirsch of Frankfurt am Main, daughter of Dr. Mendel Hirsch and granddaughter of R. Samson Raphael Hirsch. In 1890, at the request of Chief Rabbi Yaakov Joseph, Congregation Ohev Tzedek on the Lower East Side invited R. Klein to become its first full time Rabbi, a position that he held for over 35 years. R. Yaakov Joseph appointed R. Klein as a dayyan on his Bet Din where he became his right hand man. In his early years in America, R. Klein started the Meleches Hakadosh Society, which improved the level of kashrus and working condition in the ritual houses of shechitah and the matzah bakeries. R. Klein co-founded the Agudas Shomrei Shabbos with R. Bernard Drachman, and R. Pereira Mendez in an effort to further Sabbath awareness and assist Sabbath observant Jews with employment. R. Klein’s unique education gave him an advantage in fighting the Reform movement. His public lectures were dedicated to attacking the Reform, making him their most feared adversary. In 1902 R. Klein was elected president of Yeshivas Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS). At the time RIETS had no permanent home but moved from shule to shule on the Lower East Side. Recognizing the need for a permanent home for it to maintain its prestige and obtain optimum function, R. Klien launched a building campaign and within two year RIETS purchased its first building. He successfully differentiated the orthodox RIETS graduates from those of the Jewish Theological Seminary a Conservative institution. In 1906 with the new president of RIETS, R. Moshe Zevulun Margolies (RAMAZ), R. Shmuel Tzvi Wein, and R. Dov Aryeh (Bernard) Levintahl the Semichah Board was formed. The Board ordained only the most worthy of talmidim and obtained rabbinical positions for members throughout the United States. Some of R. Klein’s greatest achievements were in the field of charity. In addition to his philanthropy in America, R. Klein raised large amounts of money for the Old Yishuv in Eretz Yisrael as well as for the yeshivos in Poland, Lithuania, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. His organization, The Central Relief Committee (CRC) was one of the largest relief organizations aiding displaced World War I victims. During 1918-1920, a delegation of Europe’s torah leaders, R. Aaron Walkin of Pinsk, R. Dr. Meir Hildesheimer of Berlin, R. Meir Don Plotzki (Ostrover Rav), R. Asher Spitzer of Kurdorf, Slovskia, R. Josef Lev, and Dr. Nathan Birnbaum came to New York to start an American chapter of the Agudath Israel. R. Klien was selected to serve as president of the newly formed organization. R. Klien passed away on the 6th of Nissan and was buried in the Washington Cemetery in Brooklyn. Ironically, Rebbetzin Klien a woman of valor in her own right died the next day of pneumonia without ever knowing that her husband was niftar. Although, at the time of his death R. Klien was the honorary president of the Agudas HaRabonim, president of the newly founded Agudath Israel of America, treasurer of the Ezras Torah fund, nassi of Kolel Shomrei Hachomos in Jerusalem, vice president of the Orthodox Union, and Rav of Congregation Ohev Tzedek, he once remarked “there is but one title that I bear with a conscious pride, and that is Hillel HaKohen”.
          
Reference
Description		    Upcoming book by Baruch Amsel: Gedolim interred in America
        
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Listing Classification
Period
20th Century:    Checked
  
Location
America-South America:    Checked
  
Subject
  
Characteristic
Language:    Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
Letters:    Checked
  
Kind of Judaica