The Life of a Community: Brody, Its Rabbis and Its Controversies in the 19th Century

This research project will focus on the turn of the 19th century, when integration of Jews within the wider society, and their engagement with it, began. This integration raised many questions for the Jews of that era, touching upon issues of nationhood, integration into wider society, the examination of halakha’s limits, and more. Many important rabbis and philosophers – some happy to spearhead change, others reluctantly forced by the constraints of their community – were compelled to address these developments and outline new, up-to-date boundaries in line with the Zeitgeist. Galicia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, acted as a crucible for the encounter between older, traditional values and the newer values arising from the rapid changes transpiring among the urbanised Jewish societies of Eastern and Central Europe. Because of this, our research intends to examine the way of life and events that occurred in one of Galicia's central communities, the city of Brody.

The first section of this study will deal with a controversy regarding the writing of a Get (Jewish divorce document) on the second day of Shavuot. The controversy erupted during the 1820s between the rabbi of Brody, Rabbi Elazar Landau (1788-1831); and the Av Bet Din (presiding rabbi in the rabbinical court) of the city, Rabbi Shlomo Kluger (1785-1869). The manner of the debate indicates that beyond the halakhic dimension, this was also a struggle between a conservative approach, which saw any change as a subversion of conventional Judaism, and a more dynamic approach, which was perceived as progressive. An appendix to this section will discuss the polemic essay of Rabbi Shlomo Kluger, the pamphlet “Shiv'a Enayim”, published by his son. The appendix will seek to analyse his objectives, his style and his motives for writing the pamphlet.

Disputes

In the second section of this study we will focus on the rabbi of Brody, Rabbi Elazar Landau. We will discuss his family and immediate environment, and the characteristics of his essay on Maimonides, “Yad HaMelekh”, as compared to other essays on Maimonides. We will attempt to portray his world view, and gain a better understanding of his personality based on its historical context and his achievements.

 

 

Research Publications

 

By: Benayau Cohen
המאבק סביב מינויו של אברהם כהן לרב המחוז, הוביל להרעלתו על ידי מתנגדיו.
By: Benayau Cohen
על הספר "שבעה עיניים" שהודפס בעיר למברג בשנת תרכ"ד (1864) על ידי הרב חיים יהודה קלוגר
By: Benayau Cohen
סקירה הסטורית העוסקת במכתבו של רבי מרדכי זאב איטינגא, המבקש 'פטור אדיב' מבחינות ההסמכה של הקיסרות האוסטרית לרבני קהילות גליציה.
By: Benayau Cohen
אפיזודות מתוך זכרונותיו של ר' דוב בער מבוליחוב
By: Benayau Cohen
תולדות עריכתו והבאתו לדפוס של ספרו של ר' משה יהושע העשיל אורנשטיין, על מסכת בבא קמא
By: Benayau Cohen
על פולמוס מצות המכונה בגליציה במאה ה-19, והשלכותיו.

Addition
Links

By: Benayau Cohen
הספר 'אש קודש' בצורתו החדשה. תיאור נסיבות כתיבתו, על רקע תקופת השואה וניסיונותיה הקשים באמונה. נכתב בשיתוף עם ד"ר דניאל רייזר