Sensitive and Timely Halachic Teshuvah in the Handwriting of Rabbi Shmuel Engel of Radomyśl,
Košice, 1926
In this teshuvah, Rabbi Shmuel rules on the matter of fertility testing for couples who haven’t been blessed with children, which is, as known, a complex halachic topic that leading poskim continue to discuss to this day.
The entire text is in the handwriting and bears the signature of the renowned chassidic posek Rabbi Shmuel Engel, author of ‘Shu"t Maharash’ and a chassid of the Divrei Chaim of Sanz.
This teshuvah was published with numerous changes and omissions (apparently taken only from the author’s notebook and not from this original teshuvah before us) in ‘Shu"t Maharash’ Volume Six, Bardejov 1938, Section 75.
The Gaon of Radomyśl, Rabbi Shmuel Engel (1853-1935) was one of the foremost poskim of his generation. He was the author of ‘Shu"t Maharash’ containing hundreds of teshuvos in eight volumes. At the end of this teshuvah, he mentions the third volume published that same year, writing about it: "And it is, Thank God, a delightful work." He spent most of his years serving as Rav in Galicia, particularly in Radomyśl. During World War I he fled to Hungary and later settled in Košice, Czechoslovakia, where he wrote this present letter.
Size: Official letterhead in large format: 22.5 x 28.8 cm.
Condition: Good. Slight stain at the top of the page.
