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Bidding Information
Lot #    23754
Auction End Date    6/9/2009 12:20:00 PM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Letter by R. Hersch Kohn
Title (Hebrew)    כתב מה'ר צבי הירש הכהן
Author    [Ms.]
City    New York
Publication Date    1928
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    [2] pp., 278:215 mm., age staining, creased on folds and edges, Ashkenazic script, signed, and dated.
          
Paragraph 1    Fascinating letter to his brother in Erez Israel on the negative role of presidents and trustees in the life and behavior of a rabbi in the United States.
          
Detailed
Description		    R. Zevi Hersch b. Hanokh Hayyim Kohn (1898-1969) was born in Jerusalem and was a prominent and widely respected rabbi. He left for New York in 1921 and stayed till 1964. An erudite scholar, dynamic personality, great orator, and prolific writer. He edited with critical notes showing his sources on the basis of manuscripts and early editions the commentary of R. David Kinchi on Hosea. His responsa and novellae appeared in many periodic rabbinical journals. R. Kohn served in several prestigious New York institutions.

In 1923 R. Kohn issued his approval and certification that the Maxwell House coffee bean was kosher for Passover - the first coffee certification in the US. After 30 years in New York in moved back to Erez Israel where his wife passed on in 1967 on Sabbath morning in Haddasah Hospital. The hospital performed an autopsy without the family's consent - the Israeli government was equally rude. R. Kohn consulted several of his "American" friends who organized mass demonstrations at the UN and Israeli consulate. The publicity and protests in New York reached a point where the New York Times reported that R. Moshe Feinstein was considering a ban on Americans from settling in Israel. The message was delivered loud and clear to the Israeli government and as a result autopsies are no longer performed without written family consent in Israel.
          
Reference
Description		    J. Simons, Who's who in American Jewry, 3, New York 1938, p. 552.
        
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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