Pinkas Kethavim U’keruzim Le’divrei Rivoth U’machloketh al Devar Ha’av Beth Din Hachron Be’vilna 1768-1790.

One of the most notorious cause-celebres of the 18th century was the thirty-year communal dispute between the Vilna Community and their Rabbi, Samuel ben Avigdor. The contention began as a struggle for power between the Rabbi and the lay-leadership. It divided the community and spread to outlying cities involving Rabbis, from as far afield as Posen and communal tribunals from Brisk, Horodna, Slatzk as well as the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. Eventually, the Gaon of Vilna and the leaders of the Chabad Chasidim were also involved. As a result, there was no official Chief Rabbi in Vilna until after World War I when the title was revived, with another bitter controversy between Chaim Ozer Grodzensky and Isaac Rubinstein. This chronicle is extremely rare, only two other copies are known (in the JNUL and a Private Collection). Israel Klausner, who based his research for his book Vilna Be’tekufath Ha’gaon (Jerusalem, 1942) on this document, could only locate the JNUL copy. Earlier studies of this dispute include; I. Zinberg in Historishe Schriften, Vol. II pp.291-37 and S. Y. Finn in; Kirya Ne’emana pp.138-143. Finn did not have access to this chronicle and based his description upon an oral decription from the elders of the community. A radical Chasidic interpretation of this controversy has recently been addressed by Y. Mondshein in Kerem Chabad, vol. IV.