(Steinhousen, Dov Baer ben Kayem Kadesh.) Yehgeh Chochmah [novellae].

(STERN, YOSEF ZECHARIAH).

Vilna & Grodno

1836

Personal copy of R. Nosson Stern father of R. Yosef Zecharya Stern, inscribed by R. Yosef Zecharya.

Vinograd, Vilna 350.

R. Yosef Zechariah Stern (1831-1903) was one of the leading rabbis of Lithuania. Serving as rabbi of Shavel (Šiauliai), he fielded questions from numerous rabbis, including R. Eliyahu David Rabinowitz Teomim (the Aderet) and R. Chaim Chizkiya Medini (the Sdei Chemed). Stern also published numerous works, including his responsa Zecher Yehosef. As a communal leader he also involved himself with the cultural questions that were rocking Eastern European Jewry at the time. He fiercely opposed the Heter Mechirah leading up to the Shemitah year of 1889, and battled with Maskilim and secular Zionists alike in the pages of the HaLevanon journal. For his perceived stringencies, he is depicted as the strict and unbending rabbi in Y.L. Gordon’s poem, ‘Kotzo Shel Yod.’