Letter from the Geonim of Ashkenaz Fighting in Favor of Ritual Circumcision Against Reform Trends - Frankfurt am ...

Letter from the Geonim of Ashkenaz Fighting in Favor of Ritual Circumcision Against Reform Trends - Frankfurt am Main, 1844

"Rabbinische Gutachten über die Beschneidung" [Rabbinic Opinion on Circumcision] by Salomon Abraham Trier [Rabbi Shlomo Zalman son of Avraham Trier]. Frankfurt am Main 1844. Mainly German, significant portions in Hebrew.

In 1843, an article was published in the Frankfurt daily by "Friends of Reform" exhorting the total abolition of ritual circumcision. One of the Reform teachers in Frankfurt, Josef Yahelson (1777-1851), even composed a pamphlet in which he recommended that every Jewish institution exchange the circumcision rite for a different ceremony. The "Friends of Reform" determined that the commandment of ritual circumcision was the cause of infant mortality at the time. Following the activities of Reform circles, the Frankfurt municipality decided to register even the uncircumcised children as Jews in the population registry. Frankfurt's rabbi, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Trier (1758-1847), fought this trend with all his might, and he filed several requests with the municipality to withdraw its intent, due to the fact that according to Jewish law, such a boy is not considered Jewish. In his struggle for both Jewish and Christian public opinion, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Trier, together with the geonim of Frankfurt Rabbi Yissachar Ber Adler and Rabbi Aharon Fuld, author of Beit Aharon, started to collect opinions of sages and Jewish scholars regarding the indispensability of the mitzvah of brit milah. Rabbi Shlomo Trier gathered opinions from 28 writers, which he published as this comprehensive work on the subject.

Among the participants in the collection before us are letters from renowned Talmudic scholars, such as Rabbi Yitzchak Dov HaLevi Bamberger of Wurzburg, Rabbi Shimshon Rephael Hirsch while still a rabbi in Emden, Rabbi Yaakov Ettlinger, the Aruch LaNer of Altona, Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi of Kellenburg author of Ktav V'HaKabbalah and dozens more rabbis, aside non-Orthodox scholars such as Yom Tov Lipman Zunz of Berlin, Isaac Noah Mannheimer of Vienna, and Shmuel David Luzzato (Shada"l) of Padua.

Written on the title page: "Als manuskript gedruckt" [printed as a manuscript]. According to the researcher Rabbi B. Sh. Hamburger (HaYeshivah HaRamah B'Freuda, part 3 p. 521) the book was characterized as a manuscript, so as not to open the door to public debate on the subject. According to him, the book was printed in a very limited number of copies for those concerned with the issue, to whom it was given, and it was never sold in book stores. Hamburger also writes "This book is among the rarest today," despite the fact that the newspapers of the period extensively covered its content.

Owner's signature of Rabbiner Dr. E. Munk in the interior binding.

240 XXIV pages, 19.5 cm. Detached front binding. The external part of the spine is lacking. Stains. Moderate-fine condition.