Detailed
Description |
|
Polemic work on mikvot. The title page states that it is three open works which are responsa on practical halakhah. The first titles are Eruv Mikvot and Misahpot le-Kav by R. Shalom Elhanan Jaffe. They are intended to take issue with and refute that sage who, in contrast to his colleagues, wished to invalidate the mikvot in America. In these works R. Jaffe demonstrates that his words are void and hopes with this that, “the thunder shall cease” (Exodus 9:29). Printed with these works is Ein Eliezer from R. Eliezer Zalman Grajewski. The text of the title page is printed in red and black ink. There is an approbation from R. Samuel Salant (1816-1909) chief rabbi of Jerusalem and one of the most distinguished rabbis of his time. There is an introduction form the author and the text, which is in a single column in rabbinic type, excepting headers and initial words which are in square letters. In several places the famed Jerusalem printer’s mark of the Temple mount is used as a filler on the bottom of the page. At the end of the work is a responsa on the issue of agunot (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), written by R. Jaffe and signed by him as rav and av bet din in St. Louis. This is in two columns in rabbinic type.
R. Shalom Elhanan Jaffe ha-Levi (c, 1858-1923) was born in Russia, where he served as rabbi in several communities. He later emigrated to the United States, where he served as rabbi in St. Louis. R. Jaffe was a founding president of the Orthodox Union of Rabbis and was active in the Board of Orthodox Rabbis of New York. R. Jaffe’s other works are Peri Ashel, Tefillan Shelema, and Siha Shelema.
The third work, Ein Eliezer, is glosses related to the earlier works. R. Eliezer Zalman Grajewski, (1843–1899), rabbinic scholar, traveler, and journalist. Grajewski was born in Malyaty (Maletai), near Vilna. He served first as the rabbi of Kletsk and later of Orsha. In 1873, he visited Erez Israel, where he became a strong supporter of the new settlers. Upon his return, he published reminiscences of his journey in Ha-Ivri. When the Mazkeret Moshe organization was founded to honor Sir Moses Montefiore, leading Russian rabbis advocated the appointment of Grajewski as its director in Erez Israel, and for this purpose he went to England in 1876. He did not, however, obtain the appointment but instead was appointed rabbi in Liverpool in 1877. He also traveled extensively throughout the United States, where he lectured on the necessity of encouraging the upbuilding of Erez Israel. In 1890 Grajewski settled in Jerusalem, where he lived for the remainder of his life, although he died in Rigrod, near the Prussian border, after having gone to Vienna for medical treatment. His published works include Ginnat Egoz (1887), consisting of sermons and talmudic novellae: Ginzei Keneset Yisrael (1877), and Gevul Yam (1889), two commentaries to the Haggadah; and Si’ah Eli'ezer (1896), explanations of piyyutim recited on special occasions. |
