Doveve Sifte Yeshenim and the case of Morocco and Galicia cooperation

Living in an age when copyright infringements can lead to multi-million dollar settlements and accusations of using a business or institutions name can lead to much strife, I was delighted to find an occurrence in the early 1900s, with the opposite results.

Rabbi Refael Ahron Ben-Shimon was born in Rabat, Morocco in 1848, moved with his family in 1854 to Jerusalem and served in several prestigious Rabbinic posts in his life, including as Chief Rabbi of Cairo. During the years 1888-1890, he traveled throughout Morocco as an Emissary for Jerusalem's Jews, a visit which left a lasting impression on both him and the Jewish residents of Morocco. During his travels, he noticed that the writings of great Moroccan Rabbis from previous generations were being lost over time, in light of the fact that no printing press existed in Morocco. He wrote of his experience, how the Moroccan Jews, living in their isolation hadn't thought that it was feasible to bring manuscripts in their hands to print, as knowledge of the outside world was minimal and very few Moroccan Jews traveled widely enough to reach a place where Hebrew Printing existed.

To encourage the printing and dissemination of Moroccan Jewish Rabbinic writings, he founded a society named Doveve Sifte Yeshenim דובבי שפתי ישנים, to whom much credit is to be given from saving many works from oblivion and bringing to the forefront the importance of saving and preserving these works. In the introduction to one of their first publications, being Mishpat Utzedaka BeYaakov of R. Yaakov Ibn Sur, R. Ben-Shimon writes how he became aware, that a second group with a similar mission of preserving and publishing works was founded in Husyatin, Galicia, under the same name of Dovev Sifte Yeshenim.

This second group, was founded by R. Lipa Shwager, who was later joined by his brother-in-law, R. David Frankel. These 2 legendary booksellers of old, revolutionized the world of Hebrew books, with their publication of numerous important works from manuscript, their outstanding catalogs which contained invaluable information and their assistance in building many of the most important libraries of the day, such as the libraries of the Imrei Emes and the Admor of Sadigura.

When the 2 groups became aware of each other and their identical names, rather than fighting over the use of the name, attempted to join together and unite in to one organization due to their identical mission. The distance between them preventing this from becoming a reality, but a relationship was developed and members of the Moroccan society, became paying members of the Husyatin society and goodwill was exchanged between the groups.

From the Introduction to משפט וצדקה ביעקב - חלק ב regarding the two societies named דובב שפתי ישנים

The Societies agreed that to prevent confusion for the general public, each of the two societies would keep their name, but identify itself with it's hometown, the Moroccan one with the city of Fes and the Galician one with the city of Husyatin and indeed the future publications of the group do indeed state their city alongside the society's name.

a poster of the Husiatyn Society, where their identifying as the society from Husyatin is stated