Bidspirit auction | Poland 1853 Antique Money Document

Poland 1853 Antique Money Document on the Receipt of Yehuda Berger Money on Account of the Dowry, in Hebrew - Poland 1853 Antique Money Document on the Receipt of Yehuda Berger Money on Account of the Dowry, in Hebrew Signed and witnessed 1 page, size: 36 x 22 cm. (14.1 x 8.6 inches) Light wear, foxing stains Yehuda Leib Berger (sometimes Berger; 1867 – 2 Tammuz 1917) was a Lithuanian Jewish Hebrew educator, activist for the reform of Jewish education and the initiator of the ”Changed Room” in Pinsk, a Zionist activist, one of the ”Lovers of Zion” and one of the most prominent activists of the Zionist Organization. Yehuda Leib Berger was born in the city of Minsk in the western part of the Russian Empire (in a Jewish settlement, in the region of Belarus-Lithuania) in 1867, he had another brother, Yitzhak, and two sisters.[1] The family, which owned a well-known hotel in the city, was wealthy and owned estates. His father, Rabbi Gershon Avraham Halevi Berger (Birger, Berger), was a scholar and public figure in Minsk, one of the founders and leaders of the Tomchei Torah society for the material support of young men worthy of teaching before their ordination as rabbis.[2] His mother, Hannah Rivka (Riva), née Goldin, an educated woman fluent in Hebrew, was responsible for managing the family business. He received a traditional Jewish education under the guidance of his father with good teachers, and at a young age learned Hebrew, Russian and German. He was influenced by the Enlightenment and in his teens became interested in the idea of Jewish nationalism and joined the Khivat Zion movement. He became known as a talented orator. Already in his youth, he became one of the most important Zionists in the city, a friend of Shmaryahu Levin, Shaul Ginzburg and Nachman Sirkin. As an éliu he was sent to the Volozhin Yeshiva. He studied there from 1844 to 1855 and became one of the leaders of the Zionist secret society in the Ness Ziona Yeshiva.[3] Since he belonged to both the yeshiva and the educational world, he established a connection between the society and the Zionist student societies in the university cities of Russia. A Merchant and Educator in Pinsk In 1890 he married Meita Volobelsky (1872–1945), the daughter of Levi Yitzchak, [4] and settled in her hometown of Pinsk. His father-in-law was a wealthy man, and with the money he received from the dowry Berger began to engage in trade, first in timber and then in books. In Pinsk he found his place as a leading businessman among the supporters of Hebrew and Zionism. At the Lovers of Zion conference in Odessa in 1890, he was a delegate from the city of Pinsk. There he met Ahad Ha'am and became his supporter. After the creation of the Zionist secret society Bnei Moshe, he joined it, founded and led its branch in Pinsk (called the Zerubavel Branch[5]). Berger was one of the founders and activists of the Clear Language Society in Pinsk for the promotion of the Hebrew language[6] and was active in the Lovers of Zion. Among his circle were Mordechai Meir Strick, Zvi Hirsch Hiller and Chaim Weizmann. This interest of his found special expression in his work in education. In 1895, after the Haredim thwarted the Zionists' attempt to seize the Talmud Torah Committee in Karlin, Berger began an open war against the old Heder and proposed that the Zionists establish their own educational institution. And so, on his initiative, in the winter of 1895, the “Changed Room” was founded in Pinsk, one of the first institutions of its kind in Jewish communities, from where it spread throughout the entire territory of the moshav.[7] Berger was the director of the “Changed Room” and was the living spirit of the work of the entire network of “rooms.”[7][8] In the winter of 1919, he was involved in a controversy about his path in education. As part of his educational activities, he had prepared a systematic and chronological exposition of the stories of the Torah, which was supposed to facilitate and gradually prepare students for independent study of the Torah. This step aroused great resistance among the Haredim in Pinsk. The rabbis of Pinsk showed great hostility towards him: his status in the city as the leader of “Chovevei Zion, ” his knowledge of Talmudic literature, his extreme views on matters of religion and faith, his organizational talents and the courage he had shown made him a dangerous opponent for them. The Haredim, led by Rabbi Shmuel Noach Gottlieb, head of the Pinsk branch of the Black Chamber (an anti-Zionist Haredi organization based in Kovno), and with the participation of Rabbi David Friedman (who at the time supported Khivat Zion but was one of the most ardent opponents of the secular Zionist movement), launched a campaign of mass extermination against him, and with the help of the rabbis of Vilnius, they influenced the Ram printing house not to print Berger's book, threatening that if they did not listen to them,