Bidspirit auction | Pulmus HaBitul! “Ve’Heitev Charah Li

Pulmus HaBitul! “Ve’Heitev Charah Li Al Zeh” —Autograph Letter of the Gaon Yisroel, the Shoel U’Meishiv ZY”A A letter addressed to the gaon R’ Yehoshua Nussbaum, Dayan of Zikov, regarding the halachic question whether mei ha’lishah or chittin mechumatzin may be counted toward the cheshbon of bitul b’shishim. Penned by Gaon Yisroel Rabbeinu Yosef Shaul Natanzon, Baal Shoel U’Meishiv ZY”A. This teshuvah formed part of a broad and stormy polemic on this very issue, in which many took issue with Rabbeinu’s position. “Many Were Mefatpet on This…” Rabbeinu himself recounts the episode in Shoel U’Meishiv, Shevi’i, siman 27: “…On Shabbos Kodesh Parshas Mikeitz, 1865, the fourth day of Chanukah, I received a letter from the rav ha’charif v’ha’shanun R’ Yehoshua Nussbaum of Zikov, who wrote that he had heard in my name that regarding chittin mechumatzin which do not have shishim, the water is combined toward the shishim — and he did not believe this… I knew that many were mefatpet on this, and teshuvos had already been printed on the matter, but they did not see with open eyes. Truly, had they not intended merely to be mekantair, they would have seen that all the words are correct and straightforward. But, alas, many are those who are metza’er rabbanan — yet my heart is not drawn to this, only to what the emes dictates…” Rabbeinu proceeds to cite at length the very teshuvah that appears before us. “V’heitev Charah Li Al Zeh…” At the conclusion, Rabbeinu expresses sharp displeasure that the question was later printed without his response: “…And now, in the year 1873, a small sefer was printed by the late R’ Yehoshua Nussbaum, and what he wrote to me was printed — but what I wrote to him was not printed. And this angered me greatly — why did they not copy what I answered him on this? Therefore, whoever examines carefully will see that all my words are correct, and for this reason I have copied it here for future generations…” Indeed, R’ Yehoshua Nussbaum printed his letter in Zikaron Yehoshua (Premishla, 1872, siman 4), without mentioning Rabbeinu by name, referring to him only as “one of the great gedolim of our time.” The Shoel U’Meishiv — Gaon Yisroel of His Generation R’ Yosef Shaul Natanzon (1810–1875), Baal Shoel U’Meishiv, was among the foremost poskim of his generation, whose authority in halachah was recognized across the Jewish world. In 1857 he was appointed Av Beis Din of Lemberg, where he served until his petirah. He was a central address for she’eilos from across Europe and wrote hundreds of haskamos for seforim of his time. Although identified as a “misnaged, ” he maintained close ties with gedolei ha’Chassidus, as is evident throughout his seforim. Among those who corresponded with him were the Divrei Chaim of Sanz (Tinyana I:25 and elsewhere) and R’ Tzvi Hirsch of Liska (Kama I:10). He also engages in pilpul with teachings of R’ Bunim of Peshischa (T’lisa’a II:9). From his Torah emerged fifteen volumes of Shoel U’Meishiv, Divrei Shaul on Yoreh Deah, and additional chiddushei Torah that became foundational in the batei medrash of Klal Yisroel.