Letter handwritten and signed by Rabbi David Tebil Katzenellenbogen, Rabbi of St. Petersburg, to Rabbi Dr. Asher ...

Letter handwritten and signed by Rabbi David Tebil Katzenellenbogen, Rabbi of St. Petersburg, to Rabbi Dr. Asher Michael Cohen, one of the leading leaders of Swiss Jewry.
In the case of a divorcee, given by a messenger of the rabbi receiving the letter.

It is dated Adar 5670.

[1] D. [2] p. Blanc Official Documents.

Condition ; Very Good, filing holes.

Rabbi David Tavil Katzenellenbogen (1847-1930) was the rabbi of St. Petersburg between 1908 and 1930. He was very active in contributing to the Jewish community in Russia at the time.

He was born in Tegren in the Kovno district of the Russian Empire. Through his father's family he was a descendant of the Maharal of Prague, and in his youth he studied Torah from his father, Rabbi Naftali Hertz, Dayan in Tegren, and later studied in the Beit Midrash in Vilna.

Even as a child, he had distinguished himself by his many talents and many called him "prodigy". At the age of 19, he wrote a commentary on the Jerusalem Talmud. At the age of twenty he received the title of Rabbinate in the city of Vorbalis, Lithuania. From 1894 to 1907 he served as rabbi in the city of Sobalk, Poland, where there was a large Jewish community. In 1908, he was appointed rabbi of the Great Synagogue of St. Petersburg, capital of Russia, and held this position for 22 years until his death in 1930. Being Chief Rabbi of St. Petersburg, he was appointed as one of the most influential rabbis in Russia. He was also the official representative of the Jewish public in Russia in the government. In 1909 he was elected chairman of the Rabbinical Assembly in Vilna. Even after the October Revolution in Russia continued in his position. After the revolution he suffered from harassment by the government following his refusal, together with Rabbi Yaakov Mazeh, to sign a declaration in 1922 that there was no persecution of religion in the Soviet Union, and in 1923 he published his main book Ma'ayan Mei Naftoach, Which included commentaries on the Yevamot tractate, and five years later, David Katzenellenbogen died on December 30, 1930, in St. Petersburg (then called Leningrad).

Rabbi Asher Michael (Arthur) Cohen - (5622-5767), one of the leading leaders of Swiss Jewry, was the disciple of Rabbi Azriel Hildesheimer, and at the age of 24 was ordained rabbi and was appointed rabbi of Basel, where he served for 40 years. He dealt with halakha with the greatest of his generation, such as Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor and Rabbi Kook. In 1897, Rabbi Cohen invited Herzl to hold the First Zionist Congress in his city, following the opposition of rabbis from various circles (Orthodox and Reform) to the Munich Congress (as planned in the first place). Rabbi Cohen also took an active part in Congress and even spoke. Rabbi Cohen was one of the initiators of "Agudat Israel" and one of the first rabbis in Germany to call on the ultra-Orthodox to unite. He participated in the founding conference of Agudath Israel in Katowice and was the first speaker at the opening conference.