Long Letter from Rabbi Yaakov Yosef the First Chief Rabbi of New York. New York, 1891

Long Letter from Rabbi Yaakov Yosef the First Chief Rabbi of New York. New York, 1891

Long letter regarding the kollels in Jerusalem, by Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Charif, the Chief Rabbi of New York, to Rabbi Shmuel Salant. New York, 1891.

Specifications: [3] pages, paper. 12x20 cm. The entire letter is in the handwriting and with the signature of Rabbi Yaakov Yosef. In the letter, he mentions Rabbi Yerucham Kanterovitz who was the chairman of Eretz HaKodesh in New York.

Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, who was known ever since his days as a student in Volozhin by the name Rabbi Yaakov Charif due to his great sharpness, was born in the village of Kražiai in Lithuania in 1841, studied in Volozhin, from where he moved to Kovno, to the study hall of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter who built a close relationship with him and formed his mussar personality. He served as rabbi of several villages: Vilon, Yurburg and Zhager, and in 1883 was appointed as Maggid and head adjudicator of Vilna, one of the most respected positions in the rabbinic world of the time. He was a talented public speaker and many people came to hear his sermons, in which he quoted the mussar teachings of his teacher, Rabbi Yisrael Salanter. He printed his well known book of sermons in Vilna, L'Beit Yaakov, in 1888, and in the same year was appointed as Chief Rabbi of New York. He found that much work was needed to raise the level of Jewish observance in New York, and he established a yeshiva, made many decrees in the fields of ritual slaughter and kashrut, and at the end of his life established America's well known "Union of Orthodox Rabbis." He passed away in 1902 and was greatly honored after his death (Tnuat HaMussar part two pages 295-310). He was the first and last Chief Rabbi of the state of New York and no subsequent rabbi bore this honorable title.

Condition: Very fine.