Sefer Or Hayashar Shut by Rabbi Yisrael Lifshitz, dealing mostly with the affair of “The Gett of Kleve” (see below). Second edition , Lemberg 1902. [4] 64 leaves. Dry paper. stains. Good overall condition.
The background of the writing and printing of this book was the “Gett of Kleve” Affair. The Gaon Rabbi Yisrael Lifshitz, Rav of Kleve, grandfather of the Tiferet Yisrael, organized a Gett for a couple from Bonn. The husband was a little mentally disturbed, fled from Germany to England in fear of death, and on his way divorced his wife in the city of Kleve, Germany. The sages of Frankfurt and Mannheim canceled the Gett, claiming that the husband was not fit to divorce (“invalid Gett”), and published strongly worded broadsides against the Rav of Kleve. However, most of Gedolei Hador: the Sha’agat Aryeh, Rabbi Yitzhak of Hamburg, Rabbi Shaul of Amsterdam, and his uncle Rabbi Yaakov Emden, the Nodah BiYehuda, and more, ruled according to Rabbi Lifshitz, that the husband was considered a sane man able to divorce.
The book deals mostly with this affair and related matters. In his introduction, Rabbi Yisrael Lifshitz describes the war declared against him by those opposing the Gett, and introduces all of the parties who wished to approve the get and the various responses on the matter. This is the only Hebrew book ever printed in Kleve since the printers in Ashkenaz refused to print it so as not to side with any of the parties involved in the Affair.
