Lot 40:

Letter on the Leadership of the Community and on Halacha by the Goren David to the Maharam Schick - the Geonim and Poskim of Hungary - the Polemic against the Status Quo Community

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Wonderful letter on the leadership of the community and on Halacha by the great Gaon, the Goren David – Rabbi Aharon David Deutsch, which was sent to the great Gaon the Maharam Schick [Yarmot, 1872].

Rare, historical letter! A polemic letter that was sent by the Gorn David to the Maharam Schick about a Kuntres authored by the members of the Statusquo (status quo) community in Kashoi, disputing the Beis Din there that defined them ‘as denying the entire Torah’. The booklet introduced the words of the Gaon Av Beis Din of Karoli and additional rabbis who supported the position of the Statusquo community in this controversy.

In this letter, the Goren David asks the Maharam Schick to write to the Gaon Av Beis Din of Karoli to tell him about the severity of the matter so that he might admit his mistake and recant his instruction. The Goren David explains that he cannot write directly to the Gaon Av Beis Din of Karoli since people might think he is driven by personal motives, due to the part he played in the gathering of rabbis who wrote the Psak Halacha against the Statuequo community. In addition, the Goren David notes that he had appealed to other rabbis to ask the Gaon Av Beis Din of Karoli to recant.

This polemic is referred to in Kuntres Milchemet Mitzvah (Siget, 1889) and in a letter in Shut Maharam Shick, Orach Chaim, Siman 307, which was written in 1872 subsequent to this letter.

The letter refers, among others, to Gaon Av Beis Din of Satmar, Gaon Av Beis Din of Nirdehz, Gaon Av Beis Din of Teltshova, Gaon Av Beis Din of Tzehlim and more.

The Holy Gaon Rabbi Chaim Aharon David Deutsch (1812-1878), author of Goren David, a great Gaon, Tzaddik and holy. Gedol Hador in Hungary. When he was 13, he left his house and moved penniless to Prague, where he studied at the yeshiva of the Gaon Rabbi Leib Gluga. In 1830, when he was sixteen, he moved to Pressburg and studied with Maran the Chasam Sofer and was considered one of his greatest disciples. The Chasam Sofer was so fond of him that he said of him that he was destined for the life of the world to come and that the power of his prayer was great. Served as a Rav of several communities yet was especially renowned as Av Beis Din and Ram in Balsha Yarmot for many years. Some of his great Torah was printed in the Goren David Shut.

[1] leaf folded into four. 3 written pp. Wear and an open tear to the upper edge, affecting the text including the date.

Measurement: 17 x 21 CM

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