Shetar Mechirath Chametz [bill of sale of chametz] by Rabbi Abraham Jacob Gershon Lesser

(AMERICAN JUDAICA).

Cincinnati

1921

Autograph Manuscript. Hebrew with smattering of English

Following the actual Bill of Sale (ff. 1-2), are signatories, including several prominent members of the Orthodox community of Cincinnati, including Tzvi Hirsch ben Dov Baer Manischewitz, owner of the famed matzah factory (f.3 and f. 10). Abraham Jacob Gershon Lesser (1834-1925), one of America's great early rabbis, was born in Mir and studied in the famous Yeshiva there. He was ordained by Rabbis Isaac Elchanan, Yechiel Heller and Eizik Shapiro ("Eizele Charif"). Lesser served as Rabbi of several Lithuanian communities before being invited in 1880 to serve as Rabbi of Chicago. In 1898 he became Rabbi of Cincinnati. After the death of Rabbi Jacob Joseph in New York in 1902, Lesser was one of the founders of the Agudath HaRabanim. Lesser published two works in Hebrew, B'Acharith HaYamim on the Jewish belief in the Messiah (1896), and Ohel Mo'ed, a collection of holiday sermons (1897). In his collected responsa, he exchanged opinions with the great halachic authorities of his generation: R. Yom Tov Lipman of Mir, R. Naphtali Tzvi Judah Berlin of Volozhin, R. Isaac Elchanan of Kovno, R. Alexander Moses Lapidus of Rasein, et al. See J. Isaacs, "Abraham Jacob Gershon Lesser" in L. Jung (Ed.), Guardians of Our Heritage (1958), pp. 345-359; and S.N. Gotttlieb, Ohalei Shem (1912), p. 309