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מכתב שו"ת מרבי מרדכי הכהן אב"ד שעפס אל רבי אברהם לנדא אב"ד טשכנוב
מכתב שו"ת מרבי מרדכי הכהן אב"ד שעפס אל רבי אברהם לנדא אב"ד טשכנוב
A long letter of halakhic responsa concerning the laws of niddah, in the handwriting and signed by the Gaon Rabbi "Mordekhai b. Joshua the Cohen Grinbaum, known as Katz" Chief Rabbi of Sierpc, which was sent to the holy Gaon Rabbi Abraham Landa, Rabbi and Chief Rabbi of Tschekhnov. Sierpc (Serpts, northern Poland), [after 1841].
Rabbi Mordekhai b. Joshua the Cohen Grinbaum, ordained to give halakhic rulings by Rabbi Akiva Eiger, who was described with the title "Gaon", [in the introduction to the book "Ozni Yehoshua" by his grandson Rabbi Joshua Siegel (Jerusalem, 1914), it is told about him that he was a teacher to the sons of Rabbi Solomon Eiger, when the grandfather Rabbi Akiva Eiger came to their home he examined his grandson Rabbi Libeleh, and said with amazement that the teacher was a Gaon and not an ordinary teacher. And when Rabbi Mordekhai came before him and engaged him in a disputation on Torah matters, Rabbi Akiva Eiger said to him that a Gaon like him should serve as a rabbi and gave him permission to give halakhic rulings]. He served as rabbi of Neustadt near Wroclaw and from 1841 served as rabbi of Sierpc for about 18 years, until his death in 1859. After his death the community of Sierpc was divided into two congregations, and his son-in-law Rabbi Moses Joseph Siegel was appointed as rabbi of the "small congregation" [=the smaller community], which continued separately until 1884.
Recipient of the letter: Rabbi Abraham Landa, Chief Rabbi of Tschekhnov (1789-1875), author of "Zchuta d'Abraham", a holy man of God among the greatest Geonim of Poland, served as rabbi of Tschekhnov from 1819 and many rabbis of Poland were disciples of his yeshiva. His sons and grandsons served as Admorim.
4 pages. Approx. 33 cm. Condition intermediate, wear on margins and folds, thin paper and faint ink.
