Auction 2 Kisvei Yad, Autographs of Gedolei Yisroel & Seforim
Apr 28, 2020
Israel
 5 Reiness St. Bnei Brak
Manuscripts of Gedolei Yisroel - Hafla'ah & Chasam Sofer Dynasty, Rabbinical Seminary Controversy. Gedolim of Hungary, Lithuania, and Poland. Important & Rare Seforim.
The auction has ended

LOT 70:

Letter from Rabbi Menachem Mendel Paneth of Deyzh, the "Maaglei Tzeddek", to The Maharam Schick.

Start price:
$ 3,500
Estimated price:
$5,000 - $7,000
Auction house commission: 22%
VAT: 17% On commission only
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Letter from Rabbi Menachem Mendel Paneth of Deyzh, the "Maaglei Tzeddek", to The Maharam Schick. Controversy of Rabbinical Seminary of Budapest, 1875


“I followed his Holy Words…”
This letter was written by the Admor Rabbi Panet in response to a letter from The Maharam Schick to take action and enlist the support of other rabbis against the “seminary” and states, “I did according to his holy words…” and that he wrote to Rabbi Aharon David Deutsch of Yarmut, Rabbi Mordechai Yehuda Lau of Unterdam, Rabbi Yaakov Kopel Lichtenstein of Betlan, Rabbi Asher Shmuel Panet of Hidalmás and Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch of Lápos. At the end of the letter he mentions that he enjoyed the chiddush that The Maharam Schick sent to him, and that he did not have time to respond and expand upon it because of the extent of the current troubles.
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Panet (1818-1884) was the son of the Mar’eh Yehezkel and a student of the Chasam Sofer. From 1858 he was the admor of Dej and that community became a bastion of Chassidus. His published works are Maglei Zedek, Shaarei Zedek, Mishpat Zedek and Avnei Zedek.

This signed letter from 1875 is completely in his handwriting. 19 X 24 cm.
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Background: Starting in 1846, members of the Enlightenment movement in Hungary began trying to convince the ruling regime to establish an institution for liberal rabbis, which would train rabbis in secular studies, so that they could serve as official, state-sanctioned rabbis so that gradually all the Jewish communities would be assigned rabbis with dubious loyalty to traditional Judaism, in order to persuade and lead the general Jewish public toward liberalism and openness and to leave the age-old path of Orthodox Judaism.
For decades the intellectuals tried to convince the authorities, but the efforts of the Torah giants, headed by the students of the Chassam Sofer, managed to cancel and postpone the initiative each time it threatened to become a reality.
After the suppression of the people’s revolution in Hungary in 1848, the Austrians imposed an enormous fine on the Jews, to be used for building Jewish educational institutions, and in 1862 the plan for the establishment of the rabbinical seminary in Budapest was published.
The plan’s announcement sparked a huge storm among the haredi rabbis, who organized petitions that were signed by hundreds and presented to Emperor Franz Josef by a delegation headed by Rabbi Yehuda Assad and Rabbi Yirmiyahu Lowe, resulting in the freezing of the plans.
Following years of pressure from the intellectuals, the emperor acquiesced and in 1873 they were given the money to build the seminary. This news sent shock waves through the haredi community. The Maharam Schick rent his clothes in grief and Rabbi Hillel Lichtenstein of Kolomaya declared a day of fasting and mourning. In 1876 the seminary opened its doors, and still exists today.
The Maharam Schick, as one of the outstanding students of the Chassam Sofer, was very active against the seminary and sent dozens of letters to all the leading rabbis of Hungary and beyond for them to protest and form a united stand against the liberal initiative. The rabbis all sent letters supporting the Maharam Schick’s efforts.
The rabbinical seminary features prominently on the responsa by the Maharam Schick and in his book of sermons.