“so I will be able to marry the daughter of the Rav Gaon of Makova” – letter from the gaon Rabbi Shmuel Levi Weinberger, addressed to Rabbi Chaim Brody, Av Beit Din of Prague.
He asks something of Rav Brody and to hasten the permit “so that I will be able to marry the daughter of the Rav Gaon of Makova, as quickly as possible without delay because I am alone (may you not experience such things) and it is a great mitzvah”. This is previously unknown information, since the rav was married to the daughter of Rabbi Hillel of Kolomiya (who died during her husband’s lifetime)—this letter was written around 2 years before he himself died, and we are unaware whether the shidduch was actually consummated in the end.
Rabbi Shmuel Levi Weinberger (1860-1925) was the son of Rabbi Pinchas, Av Beit Din of Negrești. He was a student of the Mahari’atz of Marghita (Margarethen) and the Maharam Schick in Khust. When he was young he already began corresponding with gedolim of the generation, including Rabbi Hillel of Kolomiya (who became his father-in-law). He served as rav in many communities, starting with Krestirer and then Negrești and Biharnagybajom. In the end he was received as Av Beit Din of Sered, where he served for 19 years.
