Ele Divrei HaBrit – Altona, 1819

Ele Divrei HaBrit – Altona, 1819
Ele Divrei HaBrit, letters by Torah leaders, "To dissolve the new religion (which few simple people who are not Bnei Torah fabricated customs which do not follow the religion of Moshe and the Jewish people", published by the Beit Din Tzedek of the Hamburg community. Altona, 1819.
The first buds of the Reform movement in Germany began with installing "corrections" into the prayer compositions in the temple in Hamburg. The reformists omitted the prayers for redemption, brought an organ into the temple and initiated prayers in the German language. They based these corrections on Talmudic and rabbinic sources and publicized these references in a book called Nogah HaTzedek – Or Nogah (Dessau 1818) with opinions of their rabbis who justify these corrections.
This book with 22 halachic responses by leading rabbis in Germany, Hungary, Poland and other countries was printed as a rejoinder, and it presents the subject from a halachic aspect and rules that these corrections are completely prohibited. Among the rabbis whose responses appear in this book are Rabbi Ya'akov of Lissa, author of Netivot HaMishpat, Prague rabbis - Rabbi Elazar Flekeles and Rabbi Shmuel Landau, the Chatam Sofer (several letters), the Maharam Bennet, Rabbi Akiva Eiger, Rabbi Meshulam Zalman HaCohen of Furth, author of Bigdei Kehuna, etc.
At first, the Chatam Sofer objected to printing the book because he thought that raising the subject and arguing with the reformists would just strengthen the phenomenon. But afterwards, he admitted that the book had impact and wrote: "In the community of Hamburg, a compilation of letters by Torah leaders of our times has been published and named Sefer Divrei HaBrit and thank G-d, it has brought salvation…".
XVI; 131 pages. 22 cm. Good condition, spotting on some leaves. Contemporary binding, worn.
The book was published in a Hebrew edition and in a German edition (see next item). This is the Hebrew edition.