R. Akiva Joseph Schlesinger (1837–1922), was born in Pressburg. R. Schlesinger was a graduate of Hungarian yeshivot and a student of Kabbalah. He was one of the spokesmen of the extreme religious elements of the Hatam Sofer school of thought, which advocated complete separation from the "enlightened" and "neologic" elements. In his book Lev Ivri ("Hebrew Heart," 1865), he sharply attacked the "meshannim" and "mithaddeshim" ("innovators" and "reformers"). In 1870 R. Schlesinger went to Erez Israel out of a conviction that the sole hope for religious Jewry lay in the establishment of a religious Jewish community in the Land of Israel. In 1873 he published the book Hevrat Mahzirei Atarah le-Yoshnah or Kolel ha-Ivrim ("The Society for the Restoration of Things to Their Former Glory" or "The Community of Hebraists"), in which he expounded his plan for the establishment of a world-wide association for the consolidation of religious Jewry. This association would set up a network of schools to educate the young generation in a religious spirit; its center would be in Jerusalem and its aim would be the establishment of a Jewish community living off the fruits of its own labor and in the spirit of the Torah. In his book R. Schlesinger expressed ideas similar to those which were later adapted by the Zionist movement (collection of contributions and tithes for the upbuilding of the country, renaissance of the Hebrew language, agricultural settlement, organization of self-defense, abolition of the barriers between communities and kolelim and their amalgamation into one - Kolel ha-Ivrim). R. Schlesinger was the leader of a group of Jerusalemites who tried to change the halukkah system and divert the funds to agricultural settlement. The halukkah trustees, who feared R. Schlesinger's ideas as a threat to their hegemony, boycotted and persecuted him, and he reponded with harsh polemic. In 1878 R. Schlesinger was one of the founders of Petah Tikvah and, with the establishment of the new settlement, he called on religious Jewry to establish their own settlement movement to encompass truly religious Jews, without "heretical and outside elements."

דברי פולמוס נגד ראשי כולל אונגארן שהחרימו את ספרו "בית יוסף חדש". בעמ' [2] שני מכתבי המלצה לר' עקיבא יוסף שלזינגר: "מכתב גלוי" מאת "יהודה ליביש [אורנשטין]... אב"ד דאשכנזים מפעה"ק", עם חותמת "ב"ד הצדק מכולל' אשכנזים... דפה ירושלם", ו"מכתב תעודה" מאת ר' אהרן משה פירירא. בספר "שומר ישראל", ירושלים תרל"ה, דף ה, ב, נאמר על שלזינגר: "והדפיס באחרית חיבורו [בית יוסף חדש] מכתב גלוי". מסתבר שהכוונה לפרסום זה, שכנראה נספח לספרו "בית יוסף חדש". טופס של "בית יוסף חדש" עם "מכתב גלוי" נמצא בספרית ליובאוויטש, עיין: ח' ליברמן, אהל רח"ל, א, עמ' 82-79. עוד נאמר בספר "שומר ישראל", דף ב,ב-ד,א, שבנוסף לשני המכתבים הנזכרים המליצו על שלזינגר ר' שאול בנימין הכהן קארליץ מראדישקאוויץ ור' חיים צבי ב"ר יהודה (חתן בנו של ישראל ב"ק) "ועוד אחד... החותם בשם עזרת ישראל". הכוונה כנראה למכתבים שנדפסו בקונטרס "חרב פיפיות", ירושלם תרל"ה.