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Very rare first controversial work by Aaron Chorin (Choriner) arguing that the sturgeon has fins and scales and is therefore Scripturally permitted as food. This reputedly was also the position of R. Ezekiel Landau (Noda bi-Yehudah, 1713–1793). R. Mordecai Banet (1753–1829), R. Isaac Grishaber of Pacs (d. 1815), R. Jeremiah Ben Isaac (d. 1805), R. Zevi Hirsch Oppenheimer and others forbade sturgeon as not kosher. Imre No’am was written by Chorin in response to his many opponents and in defense of his postion. Originally offered to printers in Vienna, R. Banet proscribed its publication and Chorin had to have it printed in Prague, which he notes elsewhere with great bitterness. The great rareness of Imre No’am is attributable to the fact that not only was its distribution prohibited but almost all copies in Hungary were collected and destroyed. R. Grishaber wrote Makel No’am (Vienna 1799) in opposition to Imre No’am, to which Chorin responded with Shiryon Kaskassim (Prague, 1799).
Aaron Chorin (Choriner, 1766–1844), was a pioneer of Reform Judaism in Hungary. Born in Hranice (Moravia), Chorin studied for two years in the yeshivah of Mattersdorf and then at that of R. Ezekiel Landau in Prague, where in addition to his religious studies, he acquired a knowledge of general philosophy and developed an interest in Kabbalah. He was appointed rabbi of Arad in 1789. His many later works, such as Emek ha-Shaveh (Prague, 1803), all reflect the reformed position on a number of substantial issues. |
