Unprinted Autographed Letter of Chiddushei Torah by Rabbi Akiva Yosef Shlesinger
Pressburg, 1857
This letter was written by Rabbi Akiva Yosef Shlesinger when he was only 20 years old!
Rare handwritten and autographed letter by Rabbi Akiva Yosef Shlesinger, author of Lev Ha’Ivri which encompasses chiddushei Torah on the laws of indenturing a debtor and the laws of shechitah. The present letter was sent from the city of Pressburg during his years spent studying in the Ksav Sofer’s yeshivah.
To the best of Zaidy’s knowledge, this letter was never printed.
The letter features Rabbi Akiva Yosef’s original full autograph, written with the unusual spelling of עקיבה יהוסף. It wasn’t until some time later that he began signing his name with his famous moniker “HaIvri.”
Rabbi Akiva Yosef Shlesinger (1838-1922) was one of the great sages and tzaddikim of Hungary and Eretz Yisrael and was renowned for his piety and zealous guarding of Jewish faith and tradition. He published his sefer Lev HaIvri at a remarkably young age.
Rabbi Akiva Yosef wed the daughter of Rabbi Hillel Lichtenstein of Kolomiyya, and several years later, journeyed to the Holy Land where he publicized innovative ideas for rebuilding Eretz Yisrael from the dust. Some of these ideas were printed in his next sefer Beis Yosef Chadash. More recently, a collection of his teshuvos were published under the title Shu”t Rabbi Akiva Yosef.
The present letter was sent by Rabbi Akiva Yosef to his dear friend Rabbi Moshe Leib Tziltz of Nitra, son of Rabbi Shmuel Tziltz, Av Beis Din of Nikolsburg. Rabbi Akiva Yosef befriended the said Rabbi Moshe Leib Tziltz while studying in the yeshivah of Rabbi Shlomo Kvetch in Nikolsburg (whom Rabbi Akiva Yosef mentions in the present letter). Rabbi Moshe Leib was the one who helped arrange his accommodations in Nikolsburg (Shu”t Rabbi Akiva Yosef Shlesinger, Orach Chaim vol. 1 p. 8).
That same year, Rabbi Akiva Yosef received his coveted semichah letter from the Ksav Sofer who extols his praises in the letter (see Shu”t ibid, p. 12).
Pressburg,
1857. Handwritten and autographed letter by Rabbi Akiva Yosef Shlesinger.
Condition: Good, slightly worn in margins and fold mark.
Size: 17 x 21 cm.
