Never before sold: a tshuva handwritten and signed by Rabbi Eliezer Segal Landau, Av Beit Din of Oshpitzin (Oświęcim), to Rabbi Chaim Brody of Prague, regarding the relocation of an old cemetery.
The tshuva was written in response to a question from Rav Brody regarding a Jewish hospital, build on an old cemetery, an act of blasphemy toward those buried there. He carries out a long tshuva of 11 large folio pages, in which he expands at length on the subject.
It is amazing that Rabbi Brody, who served as Rabbi of the capital city of Prague, found it appropriate to ask Rabbi Landau from the far-away Oświęcim. It is possible that Rabbi Brody learned of Rav Landau during the latter’s exile in Prague during the First World War, and then witnessed the power of his genius, which caused him to ask his questions to him.
It should be noted that the top of the title page has the inscription “copy”, but everything looks uniform and matches the signature of Rabbeinu which appears at the end of this document with his stamp.
As far as we know, handwriting from Rav Landau has never been sold at auction.
21x34cm.
Creases, light tears without missing parts, good condition.
The gaon Rabbi Eliezer Landau of Oświęcim (1870-1937) was the son of Rabbi Natan Neta Segal, Av Beit Din of Oświęcim, author of the Kerem Neta. He served in the rabbinate of Kenti and from 1905 in Oświęcim, succeeding his father. He was close friends with the Admor Rabbi Ben Zion Halberstam, hy”d (author of the Kedushat Zion), who had hundreds of chassidim in the city. He owned a complete volume of Rav Landau’s halachic tshuvot called Shut Mahara HaLevi, lost during the Shoah.
