R. Aharon Hakohen, the Chofetz Chaim's son on biographies of his father and "Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim"

The Chofetz Chaim's youngest son, Aharon Hakohen (Kagan), and his mother, the second wife of the Chofetz Chaim, Miriam Freida, ended their lives residing in New York, both being buried in Mount Judah Cemetery in Ridgewood, Queens. Aharon Hakohen never married, he died a bachelor in 1957. As can be seen on the title page of the Nidche Yisrael / The  Dispersed of Israel that he published, he had a PHD though I was not able to find records of where and what he studied. On the Hebrew title page, he states that he is the Rabbi of Cong. Rabbenu Chofetz Chaim in New York. 

The book included Hebrew, Yiddish and English versions of his father's book Nidche Yisrael, and was published by him in 1951 in New York. In the introduction to the book, he makes known his opinion on the various Rabbis and authors, as well as family members that were monetizing on his father, the Chofetz Chaim's name.

From the Hebrew introduction:
"ספרי אבא הם הישיבה היחידה שהשאיר לנו לברכה אחריו על שמו אחרי שנחרבה ישיבתו בראדון. ואין לנו ישיבה אחרת במקומה רק הספרים האלו ממלאים את מקום אבא"

From the English introduction:
"These books of my father, of sainted memory, are THE ONLY YESHIVA in his name that he left to us for a blessing after him after the destruction of his Yeshiva in Radun, and we have NO OTHER YESHIVA of like inspiration and glory to replace it, in it's original site or elsewhere."

From the Hebrew introduction:
"עדיין לא יצא לאור עד עתה שום ספר אמיתי מחיי אבי זצ"ל ומדרכיו והליכותיו בקודש. והביבלאך מסוג זה הנמצאים בשוק הספרים אודות חייו ומפעליו של אבי זצ"ל אשר העולם טועה בהם וחושבים שהם ביוגרפיות של החפץ חיים זצ"ל, לא רק שהם אינם מציגים דמות דיוקנו של אבי זצ"ל כלל וכלל אלא הם לפי דעתי קובץ של שטותים הבלים ופנטזיות מעשיות ספורים ופתגמים של קורי עכביש שלא היו ולא נבראו ואין להם שום שייכות לחיי אבי זצ"ל..."

translating as: "There has yet to be published any true book describing the life of my father, and his holy walks and manners. The pulp fiction (for lack of a better translation of ביבלאך) that is available in the market today about the life and work of my father ob"m, that the world errs and believes are biographies of my father the Chofetz Chaim ob"m, not only do they not convey the life of my father in any way at all, rather in my opinion they are an anthology of nonsense, silliness and fantasies. Stories, anecdotes and proverbs like cobwebs, that never happened and were yet to be created, and have no relation to my the life of my father ob"m"

Aharon Hakohen (Kagan), seems to be directing his attacks on the biography of his father written by Moses S. Yoshor, published in 1937 and against the various Chofetz Chaim Yeshivas operated by his nephew, R. Avraham Gershon Zaks in Monsey and by R. Dovid Leibowitz, at the time being led by his son, R. Henoch Leibowitz.

See the lower half of page above

from English introduction to book

Hebrew Title page of the book

The Tombstone of Aharon Hakohen in New York

Verso of Business Card of R. Aaron Kagan, the Chofetz Chaim's son, from the Zalman Alpert Collection

Recto of Business Card of R. Aaron Kagan, the Chofetz Chaim's son, from the Zalman Alpert Collection

A window in to the finances of the Rabbis of Old, Rabbi Yehoshua Herschorn (1893–1969) of Montreal

Reading personal letters of long-gone Rabbis of old, can often allow you to glean much Halakhic information and records of Jewish History at the time. On occasion, you get an insight in to the personal life of the correspondents as well. One such case is this letter below, which I recently came across. Rabbi Samuel Alter, of Brooklyn writes to Rabbi Yehoshua Herschorn (1893–1969) of Montreal, complaining that a check, which Rabbi Hershorn sent him, written out for $3.50 has bounced due to insufficient funds.

Rabbi Alter states that he is not sure what is going on, as he does not speak English and can not communicate with the Bank, and requests that Rabbi Hershorn replace the check and cover the fees imposed by the bank.

Rabbi Yitzchak Ashkenazi, son of R. Asher Anshel: An Unusual case of father-son plagiarism

In 1903 a volume titled שמן ראש Shemen Rosh was published in Munkatch, containing Responsa and Sermons by R. Asher Anshel Ashkenazi. At the end of book, appears a section titled בשמים ראש containing the author's sermons, followed by the will and testament of R. Moses David Ashkenazi, R. Asher Anshel’s grandfather.

R. Asher Anshel ben Mordecai Ashkenazi (1833-1901) was a grandson of the renowned R. Moses David Ashkenazi (c. 1780–1856) who was born in Galicia where his father Asher served as rabbi. From 1803 to 1843 R. Moses David Ashkenazi was the rabbi of Tolcsva, Hungary, thereafter he settled in Ereẓ Israel where he became a rabbi of the Ashkenazi community in Safed, a position he held until his death in 1901. R. Asher Anshel was also the ancestor of R. Yoel Teitalbaum, the Satmar Rebbe, and his cousin and well known gabbai for many years, R. Yosef Ashkenazi.

Title page of Shemen Rosh, 1903 Munkatch

Besamim Rosh section at end of Shemen Rosh, 1903

Final page of 1903 Edition

During WWI, Rabbi Yitzchak Ashkenazi, the son of R. Asher Anshel, was displaced and found himself in Frankfurt. During his stay, he published just the portion containing the sermons, a total of 30 pages, titled Besamim Rosh, stating on the title page:
"הלא הוא זה הקונטרס האחד הניצל מלהט החרב המתהפכת בעירנו והחלק הנדפס מעיד על הכל הנתפס!"
translating as: "Behold this is the one portion of the work saved from the flaming thrashing sword of war that engulfed our hometown, this printed portion, shall serve as a testimony to the balance of the work"

and on the bottom of the title page it states
" כעת בשעת חירום וחרבן האדרעססע של הרב המחבר המו"ל היא: ... Rabb. Isaac Aschkenasy, Frankfurt a.M. "
translating as "Currently, during this period of emergency, the address of the author and publisher is.."

As can be seen in the photos of the title page below, the sermons are now clearly attributed to the author's son and not to his father!

A possibly theory can be, that the son R. Yitzchak Ashkenazi found himself in dire needs during the turmoil and displacement of the great war, that this was an attempt to attain enough recognition, to be able to find the financial and physical support needed to survive the horrors of the war.

Title page of Besamim Rosh, published ca1915 in Frankfurt

"הלא הוא זה הקונטרס האחד הניצל מלהט החרב המתהפכת בעירנו והחלק הנדפס מעיד על הכל הנתפס!"

" כעת בשעת חירום וחרבן האדרעססע של הרב המחבר המו"ל היא: .. Rabb. Isaac Aschkenasy, Frankfurt a.M. "

Second page of Besamim Rosh

Final page of Besamim Rosh

Haim Nahman Bialik and Rabbi Yisrael Hager walk in to a bookstore...

I have seen many Bialik books in my life and many books owned by the Hager Rabbinic family, but never before a combination of the two. The provenance on a copy of Bialik's sefer Ha'Aggadah which I acquired was rather surprising to me.
This book was signed and stamped several times by Rabbi Yisrael Hager, the Radawitzer Rebbe and his son, Rabbi Yosef Shmuel. The Radawitzer Rebbe, Grand Rabbi Israel Hager, was the first Hasidic rabbi to settle permanently in the United States, in 1913

On the dangers of appraisals: An "autograph" copy of the Noda Beyehuda's דגול מרבבה

Of the many reasons I get called for appraisals of book collections, the most straight-forward ones are generally the ones where the family is looking to split the collection between inheritors. In this particular case, the family was not interested in selling any part of the collection, but wanted to know the values so they can ensure a fair division between the siblings.

The prize of the collection were several autograph manuscripts by prominent Rabbis, including the Chatam Sofer, the Maharam Schik and the Noda Beyehuda, Rabbi Yechezkel Landau, that were in the family for generations. I was told that these were already appraised and authenticated a decade earlier by a noted expert and a cursory look confirmed the former two, but the work of the Noda Beyehuda, what was said to be in the handwriting of Rabbi Yechezkel Landau didn't seem right. I took a few photos with the intention of confirming the handwriting once I got back to the store and can verify the identity.

Opening a first printed edition copy of the Dagul Merevavah quickly confirmed my suspicions, published by the author's son, R. Israel Landau, he explicitly writes on the title page that he copied the text from the margins of the Shulhan Aruch of his father. Additional comparisons confirmed that the handwriting was indeed of his son.

Reporting back to the family, suffice it to say, that they were very displeased with my findings, which effectively deducted 95% of the value that was originally estimated, in the 6 figure range.

Original Manuscript of דגול מרבבה

Title page of first edition of דגול מרבבה

A record of a Dybbuk 1843 exorcised by Rav Dov Ber of Sadigura

At the end of a small volume, titled Darke Yosher by R. Moshe Yaakov Sharf, published in 1902, appears a record of a Dybbuk exorcism, which the author was present at. The Dybbuk appeared in the year 1843, at R. Dov Ber (Sadigura?). He writes how the dybbuk, being the soul of a Shochet, which fed the population non-kosher meat, entered the body of an 11 year old girl.
The following is from his description of the event:
שמעו ותחי נפשיכם..יכתת ואף להלוך על כפיו למקום המקודש הלזה ולחזות בנועם זיו קדושת אדמו"ר קדוש עליון שיתחדש כנשר נעוריו אשרי לי ואשרי חלקי שזכיתי לראות בעין ולשמוע באזני נוראות נפלאות הפלא..על אותם האנשים הנאהבים גם לי שידעתי שהמה כרוכים בחכמות כאלו המכחישים ענינים כאלו. חי ה כי רצוני לפדותם מני שחת
Translating as: "Listen, so that you may live.. each and every Jew should travel and even walk to this holy place and be able to see our great leader and master (R. Dovber), the holy one may he be blessed with the wellness of youth. Blessed am I and blessed is my lot, that I merited to see with my own eyes and hear with my ears, the great wonders... of this Dybbuk... I was bothered by those people, some of which I know, that are involved in beliefs that deny beliefs in such matters, I swear on G-d's name that I want to save them from eternal damnation."

Methods of 21st century Rabbinical book banning: The case of Deal Declassified

Deal Declassified, is a modest unassuming magazine, that for ten years now, has been catering to the hordes of Syrian Jews who leave Brooklyn to spend their summers in Deal, NJ. Containing all the information a resident of Deal may need, the magazine contains lists of synagogues, restaurants and other businesses that cater to the community, as well as advertisement of local establishments and articles of local interest.

The magazine, which is published anonymously, added a feature in this years issue titled "Venters to the editor", one of which rubbed several Rabbis in the community the wrong way. The letter takes issue with the practice of certain untrained community men, who achieve fame as great motivational speakers, and then suddenly assume full responsibilities of the Rabbinate. "Not every speaker, is a Rabbi. Not every Rabbis is a Talmud Chacham" states the letter. The letter describes how some of these people suddenly become experts in Halachah, Hashkafah, Marriage Counseling etc, resulting in numerous blunders.

The response from a few individual community Rabbis, who felt they were personally targeted was swift. Due to the anonymity of the magazine, the method used was to track down the advertisers, and intimidate them to revealing the publisher, who was then located and forced to immediately cease the distribution of the publication. The publisher has since made a hasty sale of the publication and time will tell if it will have ceased to exist.

Letter in response to Torah Scholars 2014 article

continuation of letter in response to Torah Scholars 2014 article on left column

Mizrahi Bookstore's new all inclusive non-discriminatory restroom policy

In an attempt to modernize the social ethics of the store, and to reflect the wide range of Jews that end up in the establishment, I affixed a new sign this week to the restroom in the store

Once a Jew always a Jew: A New Testament with Cantillation

There are many legends of Jewish Converts to Christianity who could not give up their Sabbath Cholent or Fish, but here is an interesting volume published by Ezekiel Margoliouth, who converted to Christianity but apparently loved leining the Torah. He published a Hebrew New Testament which he added vowels and cantillation to. To this day, Margoliouth's Christian Bible, is the only one to include cantillation. Unfortunately, there are no musical notations in the volume, so it remains unknown to me if his intention was for the reader to use the cantillation generally used for the Torah, or the one for the prophets or perhaps other books of the Old Testament.

Ezekiel Margoliouth (1815‒1894) hailed from the Polish part of Russia and was the son of the Chief Rabbi of Suwalki, Rabbi Avraham Margaliouth. He went to the rabbinical seminary at Warsaw, were he first met missionaries of the London Jews Society. At the age of 27 he converted to Christianity. In 1852 he was appointed a missionary of the LJS in London, and worked in Bethnal Green as a missionary to the Jews almost to the end of his life.

An unusual date for a Hebrew inscription - Persian Medical Manuscript

In a beautifully written Persian manuscript of Folk Medicinal Remedies that I recently acquired, I found several ownership inscriptions in Hebrew. A previous owner, writes and dates his name in several languages, the Hebrew inscription reads מרדכי .. ב תשרי תרכ"ב Mordechai, the second day of Tishre, 1861.

The second day of Tishre is the second day of the holiday of Rosh Hashanah. I found it highly unusual that there would be a Jew in Iran in this period that would be writing on Rosh Hashanah, a day when Jews traditionally refrained from Work and writing would have been forbidden. There is though the possibility, that though he knew the Hebrew Calendar and could write Hebrew, he erred on the date.

sample page of the manuscript

Inscription is on upper left side

inscriptions are on margins on top and left

sample page of the manuscript