(1847-1914). Author of Doroth Rishonim)

HALEVY, YITZCHAK ISAAC.

[Hamburg, Bad Kisssingen etc.]

1903-1913

A group of 19 Autograph Letters Signed, written in Halevy’s precise, elegant Hebrew hand to his colleague Yaakov Goldschmidt, one of the communal leaders of Hamburg. The letters contain interesting personal details concerning Halevy’s literary activities, communal affairs, criticism of the graduates of the Breslauer Seminary, historical and halachic matters. The names of scholars such as Dr. Kottek, Bamberger, Breuer and Elkan Adler are mentioned

Halevy was a multi-faceted Rabbi, historian, activist and businessman. In his youth he studied at the yeshiva in Volozhin where he developed important friendships with R. Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk and R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky of Vilna. Halevy later settled in Hamburg where he served as Klausrabbiner. He was was the initiator and architect of the Agudath Israel Organization and was vital as a concilliator between the great Russian and East European Rabbis and the orthodox Rabbis and leaders of Germany and Western Europe. See O. A. Reichel, Isaav Halevy: Spokesman and Historian of Jewish Tradition Halevy’s magnum opus was his six volume Doroth Ha-Riishonim. This historical work displayed his vast erudition and originality and covers almost the entire gamut of tradition from the Biblical era, through the Tannaic, Amoraic and Geonic periods