Pinkas of the Michalovitz Community (Slovakia) – 1849-1896 – With a Document Signed by R. Aharon Grünberger, Rabbi ...

Pinkas of the Michalovitz Community (Slovakia) – 1849-1896 – With a Document Signed by R. Aharon Grünberger, Rabbi of the City, Disciple of the Chatam Sofer
Large notebook, Pinkas of the Michalovitz community. With dozens of signed protocols; lists of community members who own places in the synagogue; and more. Michalovitz (Michalovce. Hungarian: Nagymihályi). 1849-1896. Hebrew, Yiddish and German.
The many signatories on the dozens of protocols are community leaders, gabbaim of the synagogue and charity collectors, including: R. Chaim Yosef Schönberger, R. Baruch Ziskind Wasserman, R. Aryeh Leib Brünn, R. Hertzke Spiegel, R. Levi Grünwald, and many other signatories. The pinkas includes a document dated Sivan 1862, signed by the rabbi of the city "Aharon Grünberger, rabbi of Michalovitz and the district", in which he objects to the audacity of a community member who dared speak up against the community leader R. Chaim Yosef Sh.B. [Schönberger], and rules to expel him from the community.
The Jewish community of Michalovitz, eastern Slovakia, was founded in the 18th century. The first known rabbi of the community was R. Aharon Grünberger of Bistritz (Bistrița; 1811-Tishrei 1892), disciple of the Chatam Sofer and a student in his yeshiva for close to a decade. He authored the Daat Sofer books (Michalovitz, 1891; Michalovitz 1929). In his preface to his book, he writes that he named his books Daat Sofer after his teacher, the Chatam Sofer. "His love for his teacher the Chatam Sofer knew no bounds… not a day would go past without him repeating a Torah thought heard from him [the Chatam Sofer] or an anecdote about him (HaChatam Sofer VeTalmidav, pp. 38-40). He served as rabbi of Michalovitz for over forty years until his passing. In 1894, he was succeeded by R. Shimon Ehrenfeld (1856-1931), grandson of the Chatam Sofer. His son R. Simcha Chaim Grünberger (d. 1913) and his grandson R. Moshe Grünberger served as dayanim in the Michalovitz Beit Din.
Michalovitz hosted the famous rabbinic congress in Kislev 1865, initiated by R. Hillel Lichtenstein of Kolomyia. The Beit Din ruling recording the decisions reached at that conference was signed amongst others by R. Aharon Grünberger Rabbi of the city (see enclosed material, photocopy from HaKera Shelo Nit'acheh by Yaakov Katz, pp. 92-99; see also article by Netanel Katzburg, Ruling of Michalovitz 1865, in Perakim BeToldot HaChevra HaYehudit BiYemei HaBeinayim UVaEt HaChadasha. Magnes Press 1980, pp. 272-273, 284-286).
[128] leaves (including: 156 written pages. Many blank leaves). 40 cm. Bluish paper. Good-fair condition. Stains. Dampstains with traces of mold. Wear and a few tears. New binding.