Auction 38
Lot 016:
Pronouncement “A Response to the Storm”, written by Rabbi Mordechai Eliezer Weber of Ada-Hungary, from his residence in Jerusalem, in which he writes with great precision against the herem imposed on etrogim from the Greek island of Corfu. Contained in the Rare Books section of the National Library. 1 page. size: 21X34 Cm. Tears at the bottom, no missing text.
The Corfu Etrog controversy was an affair that arose in the first half of the 19th century and agitated European Jewry in the second half of the century. At the heart of the controversy was a halakhic question as to the kosherness of the blessing of the etrogs of the Greek island of Corfu, and of the etrogs of Farga, Aya and Pervasa, which revolved around a factual inquiry: were these etrogs, commonly called "Corfu etrogs" grafted or not. But during it, meta-halakhic considerations were also raised such as the breaking of the Corfu agricultural cartel and the importers of etrogs; encouraging the local orchards of the colonies in Eretz Israel by banning Corfu etrogs and preferring etrogs exported from Eretz Israel to Europe; and the imposition of sanctions on Greek orchards for disturbances against the Jews of Corfu in the early 1890s.
The halakhic controversy divided the rabbis of Europe into three main camps: those who permitted them; those temporarily prohibiting them due to the totality of considerations; and those completely prohibiting. Disputational pamphlets were written by well-known rabbis, and questions and answers were sent on this subject among the greatest arbitrators in Europe. The Hebrew and Jewish press in Europe and Israel followed the controversy in real time, and the editors of the newspapers bothered to criticize each other for the way the affair was covered. Because of the nature of the issues on which the controversy revolved, it aroused much interest and sometimes slipped into personal attacks.
In an editorial by Yechiel Brill, editor of the HaLevanon newspaper, in the newspaper’s Sukkot eve issue of 1874, Brill described in his article the practice of the Jews of Russia and Poland to spend a lot of money to buy their etrogs and briefly reviewed the history of excessive spending on etrogs. From Rabban Gamliel the Elder who paid a thousand zuz for an etrog while on a ship to the Gvir Yaakov Todesko during the siege of Paris in 1870, who declared that he would pay a thousand francs to those who took the risk and got out of the city to obtain etrog. These crazy prices occurred during times of distress and when supply was negligible, but Brill claimed they were scandalous given that Greek etrog traders were trying to make them the norm. Brill’s claim was mainly social – Jewish leaders should not allow a situation where only the extremely rich had the option to purchase etrogs, and the masses of the people had to knock on the doors of the rich to bless using their etrogs. He showed as a precedent, the determined struggle of the rabbis of the Jewish centers in Vilnius and Warsaw against the fish cartel for Shabbat, a few years prior. The rabbis there banned the purchase and even consumption of fish until prices fell and broke the cartel, thus allowing the poor to continue to enjoy fish for Shabbat. There is therefore no reason why the rabbis should not place the weight of their halakhic weight in the field of etrogs as well, a field that is mainly for heavenly purposes. Later in the article, he also examines the halakhic side of the kosherness of Corfu etrogs, saying that these etrogs do not have a kosher advantage over other etrogs, and on the contrary – their kosherness is very dubious. Therefore, he reiterates, there is no justification for the breaking of all price ceilings, and the rabbis must call for a consumer boycott that will also be backed by halakhic arguments about the kosherness of the etrogs and will ban the use of corfu etrogs until they lower their price and made it similar to that of other citrus fruits.
Following the boycott, the Rabbi of Ada, Rabbi Mordechai Eliezer Weber published a pronouncement under the headline "Response to the storm", in which he wrote that not only is it difficult to obtain kosher etrogs in Eretz Israel and the poor of Jerusalem find it difficult to meet the price of etrogs, but that the herem was steeped in foolishness, since the Jews of Corfu relied financially on the trade in etrogs, and as if the plots of their Greek neighbors were not enough for them, the Jews of Europe are now coming and cutting off their industry as well. The proclamation became famous in Europe and caused a stir, especially towards the writer. Most European rabbis joined the boycott of Corfu etrogs.
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