Chief Rabbi of Cracow and Warsaw). Tena’im [Engagement contract]

R. Dov Berish Meisels (1798-1870), was a most interesting and multi-faceted scholar who was elected Chief Rabbi of Cracow after a controversial struggle. Independently wealthy, he supported the Polish Revolt, personally financing the purchase of arms for the rebels. In 1846, he was elected to the Senate of Cracow and in 1848 was the first Jew elected to the Austrian parliament. In 1856 he became Chief Rabbi of Warsaw in which position he assisted the Polish patriots against the Czar. Document also signed by R. Shlomo Katz (d. 1818), the head of Rabbi Meisels’ Beth Din (Rosh Beth Din); R. Menele Segal Horowitz (d. 1847) also a Dayan on Rabbi Meisels’ Beth Din; and R. Abraham Eliezer Leizer Damesek (1772-1847), Dayan in Cracow. The tenaim provide for surprisingly detailed financial and property transactions after which the wedding can take place. The Lot accompanied by a eulogy on Rabbi Meisels, "Dovev Sifthei Yeshanim," (Warsaw, 1870) signed by R. Samuel Heller of Safed