Lot of 2 handwritten letters also signed by the Dayan Rabbi Avraham Yaakov Orlonsky hy”d, first rabbi of Zichron ...

Lot of 2 handwritten letters also signed by the Dayan Rabbi Avraham Yaakov Orlonsky hy”d, first rabbi of Zichron Yaakov, on issues related to gittin

Lot of 2 handwritten, signed, and stamped letters by the Rabbi Avraham Yaakov HaKohen Orlonsky hy”d.

1. Letter from Erev Rosh Chodesh Av, 1926. Addressed to members of the Rabbinate of Haifa, about the suit of an anonymous woman (with a reference to her name) to a person (a person referenced by name), and after her claims had been heard he felt it was best that their case be held at the court in Haifa, for which he asks the highest geonim of the court to handle the case. With his official stamp. Size 13x20cm. Holepunch holes, one removed some of the stamp; folding creases, written on graph paper, numbered with emphasis on the names of those involved, generally good condition.

2. Letter from 26th of Adar, 1927. Addressed to the Rahag Rav Dov HaKohen Kook. The rabbi talks about the organization of a get in the best possible manner, detailing technical issues in order to reduce the amount of work, and he also mentions some halachot related to the use of a deputy/messenger for the process, and he includes a quotation from the pamphlet “Tosefet Bikkurim” and notes that the messenger called “Zechariya” insists on having an aleph as the last letter and to be called “Zechariya ben Zechariya.” With his official stamp. Size 21x27cm. Holepunch holes, creases from folding, light stains and tears in the margins, no damage to text. Generally good condition.

Rabbi Avraham Yaakov HaKohen Orlonsky (1879-1929) was the first rabbi of Zichron Yaakov and a Torah researcher. He was among those killed in the Hevron riots of 1929. He was the son of Rabbi Aharon Orlonsky, rabbi of Petah Tikva. In 1919 he was appointed the first rabbi of Zichron Yaakov and for a decade he led the community’s religious life and worked to spread peace among its inhabitants and bring more Jews back to the religion. He founded the Orchim synagogue there, gave shiurim in Talmud and more. He labored greatly in the masechtot of Seder Zra’im, and in tshuvot of Spanish sages. He was also a fervent bibliographer, and he mastered Arabic, researching the works of Jewish sages from the Geonic and Rishonim period, and analyzed ancient manuscripts from Talmudic sages, and he translated manuscripts from the Cairo geniza from Arabic into Hebrew. His library was filled with rare books which he acquired for his research. He wrote a number of halachic books that were not printed, mainly on the mitzvot incumbent only in the Land of Israel, and published articles and chiddushim in Torah journals of the period. He was in halachic correspondence with his brother-in-law Rav Zvi Pesach Frank. He was tragically killed in the Hevron riots during the Shabbat Sheva Brachot of his daughter Rachel, as he was wrapped in his tallit during the Birkat Kohanim of Shabbat day. See Otzer Rabbanim 1178.