Igereth Elasaph [“Letter of an African Rabbi to his Colleagues in Europe”]

Heavily Censured Reform Tracts from a Pioneer of Reform Judaism in Hungary. R. Aaron Chorin served as Chief Rabbi of Arad, Rumania. He advocated reforms to the synagogue liturgy; changing the text of prayers, abolishing the Kol Nidrei prayer, allowing prayer in the vernacular and with an uncovered head, and approving the use of the organ on the Sabbath. He also curtailed the seven days of mourning and permitted riding and writing on the Sabbath. This work, a positive response to the queries raised by the Duchy of Baden regarding liberal tendencies in contemporary Judaism (as instituted by the Hamburg Temple) is one of the earliest Reform responsa works. In Orthodox circles Choriner was contemptuously known by the acronym “Acher” (Aaron Chaim Rabbi) - the name applied to the infamous Tanaic heretic, Elisha ben Abuyah after his apostasy. See: EJ, V cols. 495-6.