Akiva Yosef Schlesinger (1838-1922) (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: עקיבא יוסף שלזינגר) was a noted

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on ...

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...

who served as the rabbinical leader of what was then Pressburg,

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

but what is now

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

.''Jews for Zion.com'' Biographical notes: Rabbi Akiva Yosef Schlesinger
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Early years

Schlesinger was born in Hungary but emigrated to Palestine.

Scholarship

Schlesinger was a disciple of Rabbi Samuel Benjamin Sofer (the ''Ktav Sofer'') and

Moshe Schick Moshe Schick (1 March 1807 – 25 January 1879; he, משה שיק, alternatively spelled as ''Shick'', ''Shik'', ''Shieck'') was a prominent Hungarian Orthodox rabbi. In rabbinical commentary Shik is commonly known as the Maharam Schick (מהר" ...

(the ''Maharam Schick''). He was the author of the ''Lev haivri'', a commentary on the last will and testament of Rabbi Moses Sofer (the ''Chatam Sofer''), a previous head rabbi of Pressburg and the father of one of his main teachers. Additionally, he is known for his unsuccessful attempt to reinstate the blowing of the ''shofar'' when Rosh Hashana falls on

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical stori ...

, which had been banned since the times of the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

under the edict known as ''gezeirah d'Rabbah'', named after

Rabbah bar Nahmani Rabbah bar Nachmani ( he, רבה בר נחמני) (died c. 320 CE) was a Jewish Talmudist known throughout the Talmud simply as Rabbah. He was a third-generation '' amora'' who lived in Babylonia. Biography Rabbah was a kohen descended from E ...

, a noted '' amora'' of the late 3rd-early 4th centuries.

Controversy

At times, he made very controversial statements regarding such things as the political nature of the early ''

kollel A kollel ( he, כולל, , , a "gathering" or "collection" f scholars is an institute for full-time, advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features shiurim (lectures) and learning ''sedarim'' (sessions); ...

'' systems of dispensing funds to poor Jews living in

Eretz Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine (see also Israe ...

(not to be confused with the more contemporary use of the term ''

'', which refers to post-graduate institutions of talmudic study). Because of this, there was a time when his written works were put under a ''cherem'' (ban).

References

1838 births 1922 deaths Hungarian Orthodox rabbis Hungarian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Rabbis from Bratislava 19th-century Hungarian rabbis 20th-century Hungarian rabbis {{Hungary-rabbi-stub

Early years

Scholarship

Controversy

Further reading

References