Isaac Moses Slatky. Halachic inquiry posed to Rav Shlomo Eiger of Posen concerning a "Cohen" (of priestly descent) residing in Baltimore who married a young girl that previously had a child conceived out of wedlock.

(AMERICAN JUDAICA)

Baltimore, Maryland

1842

Hebrew autograph letter signed in English by Isaac Moses Slatky in Ashkenazic script. Brown ink on paper.

Isaac Moses Slatky (c.1791-1875) served as the reader to the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation. He states in his letter to Rav Sholom Eiger that he had ruled that this "Cohen" should not be allowed to bless the congregation on holidays or to receive the first Aliyah. However, as others were protesting his decision, he called on Rav Eiger for his opinion. The verso contains a letter by Rav Shmuel Folgelsdorf of Posen concerning this and other personal family matters. Included was a description of the Baltimore community, its synagogue and Kosher Mikva. There is also another signature scrawled on the side by "Yitzchak Chaiim" who states that he was a former student of Rav Akiva Eger. S. Adler and I. Conolly, From Ararat to Suburbia (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1960) write about Slatky's sojourn in Buffalo, however they were unaware that he lived in Posen and served in Baltimore.