Letter Signed, by Akiva Joseph Schlesinger, Yitzchak Tzvi Rivlin and seven others, written in Hebrew to the Netziv of Volozhin.

An impassioned plea from this group of idealists in Jerusalem to the Netziv. They state they represent one hundred families who aspire to work the land in order not have to depend on the “chalukah” charity. Indeed they are willing to invest their own funds to assist in the endeavor. The letter suggests that since the Chovevei Zion Movement is deferring to the wisdom of the Netziv and other sages, perhaps now the Jews of Jerusalem will no longer be stranded and treated as “banished, stray sheep.” A longtime resident of Jerusalem, R. Akiva Joseph Schlesinger (1838-1922) was born in Pressburg, where his Mohel was R. Moses Schreiber (the Chasam Sofer) and he later studied in the Pressburg Yeshiva of R. Abraham Samuel Benjamin Schreiber (the Kesav Sofer). Schlesinger wrote “Lev Ivri,” a commentary to the ethical will of the Chasam Sofer, calling for unswerving adherence to tradition. Nonetheless, Schlesinger could be innovative too - within the confines of Jewish law. Thus, he wore the recently discovered blue thread of techeileth and he also blew the shofar on the Sabbath in the Old City of Jerusalem. He called for the urgent resettlement of the Land of Israel based upon the traditions of Torah, to which end he was instrumental in establishing the new colony of Petach Tikvah. See M.A.Z. Kinstlicher, HeChasam Sopher VeTalmidav (2005) p. 534; Benjamin Mintz in: L. Jung, Men of the Spirit (1964) pp. 85-105; N.Z. Friedmann, Otzar Harabanim, A-16803.