סעגעדינער איזיאעליטען געמיינדע - The Jewish Community in Szeged - A letter of appointment to Rabbi Leopold Lef to head the Jewish community in Szeged. Szeged [Hungary], Cheshvan 3, 1850 - handsome scribal script, Hebrew and Yiddish, rabbinical signatures, and official wax stamp of the Jewish community in Szeged.
"On the twenty-fourth of the month ... When the heads of the people ... gather with a large number of people to choose for themselves the president of the Torah... to say:" The genius Lef will be the man we would like to appoint ... Chen Chen to the honor of Adoneinu Morinu VeRabbinu ... the genius Lef... the signatories no. 164 in total ... ".
Before us is a unique historical discovery - an official letter of appointment to Rabbi Leopold Lef to head the community signed by the 32 Rabbis of Szeged, (according to the text the total number of signatories to the appointment is 164, but in the letter before us sign 32) and an official wax seal of the holy Szeged community. Among the signing rabbis: Rabbi Shimon Auslender, Rabbi Avraham Kahn, Rabbi Moshe Horowitz, Rabbi Yehuda Schlesinger, Rabbi Wolf Reicher, Rabbi Wolf Weiss, Rabbi David Hollander, and other rabbis. It is important to note that the appointment before us was made in years when his neological views were still not clear enough, a fog which characterized Rabbi Lef for most of his years. See below.
Rabbi Yehuda Leib [Leopold] Lef [1811-1875] Rabbi of the Jewish community in Szeged, a Hungarian theologian and historian born in Moravia, one of the most prominent scholars of the 'Chochmat Israel'. He was a tenth generation to the Mahara'l from Prague on his father's side, and on his mother's side was a descendant of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Krochmal. In his youth he acquired education in a variety of fields, and even mastered the Hungarian language, and in 1844 was the first rabbi in the country to deliver his sermons in the Hungarian language, and became increasingly close to the neolog Judaism of his time. His positions made him the object of intense hostility on the part of the Orthodox. In 1846, when he received the rabbinate in Papa, the orthodox side of the community tried to prevent his appointment by contacting the authorities, but were unsuccessful. In 1850 he left Papa in favor of the large city of Szeged, where he served until his death. Before us is the official appointment letter given to him when he arrived to Szeged. At that time he still did not take a clear neological approach, and only in the 1960s he begin to lean towards Abraham Geiger's ideas. Despite his great openness, he saw himself loyal to tradition all his life, and Reform Judaism expressed disappointment that it had not shown loyalty to its principles. In the yearbook of the Reform rabbis' meeting in the United States in 1911, it was stated about him that although he was a "decisive reformer in theory", his work had no influence on his countrymen; "To the question of what amendments (in the spirit of the Reforms) he actually introduced, we must answer with disappointment: nothing", Written.
[2] pages. 43x28 cm. Slight stains. Thick paper. Good condition.
