Portrait of Rabbi Meyer Neufeld - Lithograph - Berlin, 19th Century

Portrait of R. Meyer Neufeld of Posen (Poznań), lithograph by S. Rabat. Berlin: L. Sachse & Co., [19th century, ca. 1860-1880]. Captioned in Hebrew: "The portrait of an active and accomplished man, Torah scholar and exceptionally diligent, who day and night without respite benefited the unfortunate, assisted the poor and advocated for the downtrodden, the renowned and pious R. Meyer Neufeld". R. Meyer Neufeld (died apparently in the winter of 1859), was a famed Torah scholar and pious man in his times, a community leader in Posen and among its wealthy residents during the days of R. Akiva Eger and his son, R. Shlomo Eger. He established a bakery of machine matzot in Posen, which was cited as proof of the halachic acceptability of machine matzot during the ensuing polemic on this subject. The Shoel U'Meshiv cites "R. Meyer Neufeld, a leading Torah scholar of Germany and Prussia", as one who knows the advantages of machine baking (Shenot Dor VaDor, I, pp. 462-464). R. Yosef Chaim Kara writes (in his letter to the Chiddushei HaRim from Nissan 1859, Shenot Dor VaDor, I, pp. 468-478): "…Already about 15 years ago, this device was brought to Posen, because there lived an exceptionally G-d fearing man, a leading Torah scholar and pious man… R. Meyer Neufeld". In an article printed in HaMaggid, Tevet 1858, R. Yosef Chaim Kara writes: "…who has heard the renown of the pious man, prominent Torah scholar R. Meyer Neufeld of Posen, who himself was the first… to establish there a matzah bakery with a large, wonderful machine…" (see the article by R. Y. Mondschein, Zechor L'Avraham, 2003, pp. 849-854). R. Meyer Neufeld exchanged halachic responsa with R. Moshe Yehuda Leib Rabbi of Kutno, author of Zayit Raanan (Zayit Raanan, Part II, section 7, features a "responsum to a famous rabbi", and R. Chaim Yaakov Naftali Silberberg, the author's grandson, attests that this responsum was sent to R. Meyer Neufeld). R. Eliyahu Guttmacher Rabbi of Greiditz, who was his mechutan, cites stories and practices in the name of R. Meyer, referring to him as "my mechutan, the rabbi and pious man". [1] leaf, thick paper. 30 cm. Good condition. Light foxing. Minor marginal tears. Stamp in Polish from Łódź on the verso.