Interesting Letter from Rabbi Wolf Boskowitz – To Rabbi Shmuel Leib Kauder, a Prague Rabbi – Kelin, 1810

Lengthy and interesting letter handwritten and signed by R. "Wolf HaLevi Boskowitz". Kelin (Kolín), Adar II 1810.
Addressed to his friend, R. Shmuel Leib Kauder, a foremost rabbi of Prague. At the beginning of the letter, R. Wolf relates briefly to two questions on Torah topics which R. Shmuel Leib had sent him, and refers him to R. Baruch Jeitteles of Prague and to R. Betzalel Ronsburg of Prague, whom he had sent answers to these very questions in the past. Further in the letter, he mentions two brothers, of Prague's influential and wealthy figures: R. Moshe and R. Shimon Yerushalmi. Most of the letter pertains to R. Wolf's personal matters, and to his reaching a juncture in his rabbinic career. The letter relays his concerns of losing out both ways, and of remaining in Kelin indefinitely.
Ishim BiTeshuvot HaChatam Sofer (section 113, p. 89) recounts that R. Wolf Boskowitz was appointed rabbi of Kelin in ca. 1803, a position he was compelled to vacate in 1810, due to a royal decree, following which he went to serve as rabbi of Bonyhád. In a biographical essay on R. Boskowitz printed at the end of his book Seder Mishneh on Sefer HaMada (Jerusalem, 1991, p. 437), the historian R. Yitzchak Yosef HaKohen writes: "R. Wolf Boskowitz left Balassagyarmat and Hungary despite the good conditions he enjoyed there, to reside in the same country as his father. In 1804, he was appointed rabbi of Kelin, birthplace of his father the Machatzit HaShekel. He hoped to find peace and tranquility in Bohemia, yet there too, as in Moravia, the authorities persecuted him and he was only authorized to remain in the country for a limited period of time. In 1809, he was commanded to leave the city and the country. That year, he was appointed rabbi of Bonyhád… R. Wolf arrived in Bonyhád in the summer of 1810… and there, his travails finally ended and he was able to settle down". This letter discloses new and different details surrounding this same episode. The letter was written in Kelin on 7th Adar II 1810, and R. Wolf relates in it that he is still residing with his family in Kelin, yet is already receiving a monthly salary from the Bonyhád community. He writes that he fears that the Bonyhád community will give up waiting for him, since a large part of the year has already passed since he was appointed, on 19th Tammuz 1809, and he still hasn't moved there. He mentions in passing that he and his family endured much tribulation for over six years (presumably since 1803, when he returned to Bohemia).
R. Binyamin Ze'ev Wolf Boskowitz (1740-1818), an eminent Hungarian rabbi, son and disciple of the Machatzit HaShekel - R. Shmuel HaLevi of Kelin Rabbi of Boskovice (1724-1806). He served as rabbi of Aszód, Prostitz (Prostějov; during this tenure, he developed a close relationship with the Chatam Sofer, see Ishim BiTeshuvot Chatam Sofer, section 113), Pest, Balassagyarmat, Kelin and Bonyhád and taught hundreds of disciples. His Torah erudition and perspicacity were venerated by leading Torah scholar of his times such as the Noda BiYehuda, R. Betzalel Ronsburg, R. Mordechai Banet, the Chatam Sofer, R. Akiva Eger, and others. He authored many printed and manuscript compositions, most prominently his monumental Seder Mishneh on all parts of Yad HaChazaka by the Rambam, which has not yet been fully published. His Talmudic glosses named Agudat Ezov are printed in the Vienna 1830-1833 Shas edition, with an approbation by the Chatam Sofer.
R. Shmuel Kauder (1766-1838), a close associate of R. Betzalel Ronsburg, and dayan in his Beit Din in Prague. He was a prime disciple of R. Michael Bacharach Rabbi of Prague, and later of R. Elazar Kalir author of Or Chadash, in Kelin. He resided in Kalady (Koloděje), and from 1812 served as rabbi in the communities of Tábor and Budweis (České Budějovice) in Bohemia. In 1835 he was appointed head of the Prague Beit Din, where he disseminated Torah and was renowned as a prominent halachic authority. Of his many writings, only Responsa Olat Shmuel (on Orach Chaim), Ahavat Emet (homily) and Zikaron BaSefer (on tractate Megillah) were published.
[1] leaf. Approx. 23 cm. Good condition. Folding marks and stains. Address inscribed on verso.