Teshuvot HaGeonim, concerning the pronunciation and reading of the Divine Names, together with letters from leading rabbis regarding the controversy and schism within the London Jewish community. Printed by Emanuel ben Joseph Athias, Amsterdam, 1707. Fine copy in its original vellum binding.
The publication of this work stems from one of the most celebrated and contentious rabbinic disputes in the history of Anglo-Jewish and early eighteenth-century European Jewry. In 1706, a bitter controversy erupted within the Ashkenazic community of London over a get (Jewish bill of divorce) granted by a man named Koppel Fort (or Koppel Schreiber). Before departing on a voyage to India, the husband delivered a conditional get to his wife so that she would not become an agunah should he perish at sea. Shortly thereafter, however, it became known that he had never sailed and had remained alive in England, raising serious doubts regarding the validity of the divorce. The Rabbi of London at the time, Rabbi Mordechai Hamburger, ruled that the get remained valid. A group of rabbis led by Rabbi Uri Phoebus Hamburger, author of the polemical work Urim Ve-Tumim on this very controversy, challenged the ruling and issued bans of excommunication. The fierce halachic debate quickly spread beyond England and drew into its orbit many of the foremost rabbinic authorities of Europe. Included here in its entirety is the pamphlet Ma’aseh Rav, a collection of letters, rabbinic rulings, correspondence, and protocols by the leading sages of the period. At its head appears the forceful ruling of the eminent Rabbi Tzvi Ashkenazi (the Chacham Tzvi), together with letters from the rabbis of major Jewish communities including Kraków, Lwów, Leszno, and Nikolsburg. These letters were issued in opposition to the ban imposed by the opponents of the Rabbi of London.
The volume was compiled, edited, and prepared for publication by the Torah scholar Rabbi Yochanan ben Yitzhak of Halishoy (Halishau), who traveled especially to Amsterdam in order to print it at the distinguished Athias press and present the position of the persecuted party in the controversy, thereby vindicating the reputation of the Rabbi of London.
On the inside front cover is the “Minchat Shai” bookplate of the To’elet Society, Amsterdam, dated 28 Sivan 1825.
[1], 18 leaves. 20 cm. Original vellum binding. Printed on thick paper. Light staining to the margins of some leaves. Good condition.
