Four large leaves written on both sides, from a ledger of the Rabbi of the Entire Diaspora, Rabbi Akiva Eiger (written primarily by his sons), with the addition of an entire passage in the very pure hand of the gaon Rabbi Akiva Eiger, as well as several erasures and corrections in his hand. There is also a leaf with an index of responsa from Tractate Niddah, also written in his own hand.
Rabbi Akiva Eiger’s responsa were copied from his letters by copyists (primarily his sons, the geonim Rabbi Avraham and Rabbi Shlomeleh Eiger), and they were edited and corrected in preparation for printing per his instructions. As his son wrote in his introduction to Shu”t Rabi Akiva Eiger (Warsaw, 1935): his father, the gaon Rabbi Akiva Eiger, warned him and instructed him very precisely how to copy the responsa from his writings. Rabbi Akiva Eiger himself corrected and added in the manuscript leaves. The responsa before us were printed in Ktav V’Chotam D’Rabi Akiva Eiger Kamma (Bnei Brak, 1995); and in Tirosh V’Yitzhar , and from there in Likkut Teshuvot V’Chiddushim Rabi Akiva Eiger (Bnei Brak, 1968); and an additional passage that to the best of our knowledge has not been printed.
There is a passage added to the leaves of responsa before us comprised of over 100! words in his very own pure hand, and another 30 words in the leaf of indices, also in the author’s hand. As is known, each and every word that left the gaon’s mouth was carefully measured and weighed. Rabbi Chaim HaLevi Soloveitchik of Brisk considered an expression from Rabbi Akiva Eiger z”l as an expression from the Early Authorities. The gaon of Tchebin stated that if Rabbi Akiva Eiger brings a proof from the gemara, his proof can be deliberated, but if he writes from reason, this cannot be argued! It is known that there was a difference between his writings (such as those before us) and books that were written from his disciples. The Chazon Ish said: “Rabbi Akiva Eiger could have been in the Rashb”a’s generation, but the Holy One, Blessed Be He had mercy on us and gave us Rabbi Akiva Eiger in our generation.”
It is fascinating to see the changes from the manuscript before us and the version printed in books, which show Rabbi Akiva Eiger’s famous humility and caution in black-on-white. For example, a difficulty appears in the text before us in Rabbi Akiva Eiger’s name: “About the difficulty raised … in my name .” In the printed version, due to the gaon’s humility, the word in my name (“בשמי”) is omitted, so that it could be understood as if the difficulty is the questioner’s. There are additional differences in the name and the title of the letter’s sender (the questioner): In the manuscript before us, written by the copyists, the version of the original letter of response sent by Rabbi Akiva Eiger to the questioner (who happened to have been his in-law), Rabbi Akiva Eiger writes: “My honorable friend and in-law, the rabbi, luminary of the Diaspora, Av Beit Din of the Kempen community …” and this is how his copyist wrote it on the leaves of responsa before us. However, when Rabbi Akiva Eiger proofread these leaves, he crossed out the sender’s name and wrote “And a sage.” And further on in the responsum, the copyist wrote “the rabbi of Kempen” and Rabbi Akiva Eiger changed it again, writing, “the above-mentioned sage.” The reason for these changes are divided in two: the reason for omitting the honorary titles as they appear in the above introduction, as appears in Shu”t Rabi Akiva Eiger (Warsaw, 1935), where he instructed his sons as to how to deal with the matter of honorifics at the beginnings of the letters, which occasionally have a “hint of flattery” or a “hint of pride, ” so he requests they create a uniform method of titles across the responsa. And the reason Rabbi Akiva Eiger omitted – in the responsum before us – the name of the questioner completely, lies in the fact that Rabbi Akiva Eiger criticizes his words, and due to his honor, he did not want to mention his name. It is interesting, however, that in the end, in the book itself, the question appears with the sender’s name, (his in-law, the rabbi of Kempen), and with the honorifics. And this is astonishing. It is possible that the responsum in the book was actually printed from the letter itself and not from the copy.
Expert’s confirmation included.
[8] large pages, 35×21 cm. (2 columns in each page, for a total of 16 columns.) Thick, high-quality paper. [1] leaf paper, 20×15.5 cm. Fine condition. Aging stains. Fold marks. Creases, folds and tiny tears in the margins, without damage to text.
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