Surprising Legal Decision Handwritten by the Gaon Rabbi Akiva Eiger

Surprising Legal Decision Handwritten by the Gaon Rabbi Akiva Eiger

Unprinted, and unfamiliar from halachic literature!

Din Torah decided by the rabbi of the entire Jewish people, Rabbi Akiva Eiger, and his lengthy court ruling, reasoned and surprising. Over [100] words handwritten by the gadol hador himself, and with his full handwritten signature: "The youth Akiva Ginz of Eisenstadt". [Posen] "Sunday 14 MarCheshvan, 1820."

This rabbinical court case involved a conflict between two householders, R' Yoel and R' Zanvil. One of the ministers owed a large sum to R' Zanvil, and when the minister evaded payment of the debt, R' Zanvil hired R' Yoel to collect the debt, for a fee. Both sides came to R' Akiva Eiger's beit din with respect to collection of the fee that R' Zanvil owed R' Yoel (after the latter was successful in retrieving part of the debt).

The rabbi of the Jewish people, the gaon Rabbi Akiva Eiger, used his tremendous genius this time not to resolve a difficult Tosafot, but to bring peace between the two partners who were caught in a dispute. Rabbi Akiva Eiger apparently understood that the crux of their conflict was not really about money, but about honor, and neither person was willing to lose out to the other. As such, in his surprising ruling, Rabbi Eiger proposes a compromise between the two adversaries, and rules that the disputed sum be paid by R' Zanvil to ... hachnassat kallah!!!

We have the privilege of access to the books Drush V'Chiddush that contain Rabbi Akiva Eiger's halachic novellae, as well as his books of responsa and glosses that glorify the Jewish library, and are studied by generations of Talmudic scholars, such that his scholarly style and the way he composes his well-known responsa are already long-familiar to the Jewish people.

This manuscript opens a window into the fascinating and almost totally unknown halachic profession of the gaon Rabbi Akiva Eiger, and his style of halachic ruling, a role he served in addition to that of rosh yeshivah and one of the leading responders of his generation - also as av beit din of Poznań. This is an important and extremely rare autograph that opens a rare and narrow slit into the style of halachic ruling by one of the greatest giants of Torah that ever arose among the Jewish people.

As is known, each and every word spoken by the gaon Rabbi Akiva Eiger was very well-measured and -weighed. Rabbi Chaim HaLevi Soloveitchik of Brisk would closely examine Rabbi Akiva Eiger's words like the words of the Rishonim, and the gaon of Tchebin would say that if Rabbi Akiva Eiger brought proof from a gemara, his proof could still be debated, but if he brought it from reason, there is no room to dispute his words! Here are over [100] words in Rabbi Akiva Eiger's very own hand in the completely unfamiliar realm of halachic ruling - and here we are indeed exposed here to a compromise that is surprising in its simplicity, from Rabbi Akiva Eiger.

[1] leaf, 18x33 cm. Thick, high-quality paper. The entire decision is handwritten and signed by the gaon Rabbi Akiva Eiger.

Very fine condition. Aging stains. Placed in an elegant leather binding.