Ha’Atakah MiMichtav Hagaon … DeKovno.

(AMERICAN JUDAICA).

Y. Shor & Co

Boston

1892

Single page printed broadside, WITH Autograph Signed statement by R. Ya’akov Yoseph on verso, refuting the document, along with his stamps of office.

An unrecorded broadside in support of Rabbi Moshe Zevulen Margolies (the Ramaz), endorsed by R. Yitzchak Elchanan of Kovno and R. Joshua Siegel of New York (author of Eiruv VeHotza’ah). Concerns a spat between two Boston-based Rabbis, R. Margolies and his brother-in-law R. Bahritz, wherein the latter sought to undercut the authority of the former by taking an independent approach over the endorsement of kosher meat. Scandalously, the final printed line notes that Chief Rabbi Ya’akov Yoseph of New York also supported this proclamation. On the verso of this rare document R. Ya’akov Yoseph (”Rav Hakolel of Kehiloth Yisroel of New York”) pens in his own hand a statement “all that is recorded on the reverse of this page are lies and falsehood.” Amidst the contentious positioning over R. Ya’akov Yoseph’s role as Chief Rabbi of New York, individuals such as R. Joshua Siegel worked in undercutting him - this broadside being an example of that since Rabbi Bahritz of Boston was a supporter of Rabbi Yoseph, thus causing Rabbi Siegel to oppose them both - even to the extent of falsely stating that Rabbi Yoseph agreed with R. Siegel’s position over the Boston matter! Presumably Rabbi Bahritz took this broadside from Boston directly to New York for Rabbi Yoseph to directly and personally record how patently false it was. The definitive biography of Chief Rabbi Ya’akov Yoseph is entirely unaware of the episode this broadside represents, see Y. Landau, The Rav Hakolel (2012). Autograph manuscripts by R. Ya’akov Yoseph are most uncommon.