(GORDIN, YEHUDAH LEIB).

Lomza & Chicago

v.d

Kethav HaRabbanuth [two Rabbinical appointments for Rabbi Yehudah Leib Gordin]: * Rabbinical Appointment as Rabbi of Lomza. Hebrew manuscript on paper written in rabbinic script with a few words in bold square letters. With conditions and responsibilities of the appointment and salary for three years. Followed by 299 signatures including the Dayan Yoseph Abraham [Zinowitz] and community leaders. ff. 4. Lomza, 5th Shevat, 1914. * And: Rabbinical Appointment as Rabbi of Congregation Tifereth Zion, Chicago. Hebrew manuscript, written in a cursive hand on paper. With conditions and responsibilities of the appointment and salary for five years. With gold stamp and five signatures of the officers. ff. 1. Chicago, 1st Tammuz, 1922.

Aside from his renown as a dramatic orator, R. Yehuda Leib Gordin (“The Lomza Gaon,” 1854-1925) was acclaimed as one of the outstanding Poskim of Poland. He was very supportive of the famed Yeshiva in Lomza and was sent by the Rosh Yeshiva, R. Yechiel Mordechai Gordon, to America to raise urgently needed funds. There, the Jews of Chicago were so enthralled by his dynamic personality and scholarship they immediately offered him a pulpit position and the presidency of the Chicago Orthodox Rabbinical Association. See E. Katzman, HaGaon R. Yehuda Leib Gordin… HaGaon MeLomza in: Yeshurun Vol. III (1997) pp. 649-78.