Rabbi Akiva Eiger ben Moshe Guens (1761–1837) was considered one of the nimblest halachic minds of his generation. As an admired child prodigy who began teaching at his uncles yeshiva in Breslau at the age of 15, he had no trouble attracting a suitable match at the age of 18. The wealthy Itzyk Margalioth of Lissa gave him his daughter Glueckche and provided for his every need. Young Akiva was spared the necessity of accepting a rabbinical position, his idealistic nature being repelled by the idea of deriving material benefit from the study of the Torah. But fate intervened in an unexpected way when the great fire which destroyed Lissa in 1791 impoverished his father-in-law and forced Rabbi Eiger to accept the communal rabbinate of Märkisch Friedland (now Mirosławiec, Poland) in West Prussia. He spent 24 years in this rabbinical position and then another 22 years as communal rabbi of Posen (Poznan), not how he had planned to spend his life as a young man, but a rewarding and successful life it turned out to be. Rabbi Eigers Yahrzeit is commemorated on the 13th of Tishrei, which begins tonight at sundown. Akiva Eiger ben Moses Guens was born in Eisenstadt, Hungary. His mother, Gitel, whose family was probably from the Bohemian city of Eiger, was the only daughter of Rabbi Akiva Eiger (d. 1758), formerly rabbi of Pressburg (now Bratislava), whose name was taken by his grandson out of respect. At an early age Akiva showed great proficiency in Talmud, so that his uncle, Wolf Eiger, later rabbi of Leipnik, took him under his care at Breslau. It was this uncle who arranged for his nephews marriage and his subsequent life in Lissa. But beginning in 1791 and until 1815 Rabbi Eiger served in Märkisch Friedland as rabbi. His noble and self-sacrificing character and his great Talmudic learning made him universally beloved, and won for him an international reputation among learned Jews. He repeatedly expressed a desire to resign his charge and to accept a position as teacher, or a small stipend from wealthy patrons of an academy, in order to escape from the religious responsibilities of the rabbinical office, but remained in deference to the entreaties of his congregation and family. In 1815, he became the chief rabbi of the important East Prussian city of Posen (Poznań). This appointment had actually been delayed for two years by conflicts between the conservative and modernizing factions in the community. From that time his real public activity began, and lasted till his death. Rabbi Eiger’s involvement in the Orthodox battle with Reform was first expressed on an intercommunal level in the controversy over the establishment of the Hamburg Reform Temple in 1818–1819. His opinion appears prominently in Eleh Divrei HaBrit, the protest volume published in 1819 by the Hamburg rabbinical court. He was also opposed to secular learning, and one or two hours a day for that purpose was the utmost concession he would make to the government when compulsory secular education of Jewish children was introduced into Prussia. When measured by modern standards Rabbi Eiger appears extreme in his views; compared with his contemporaries, and especially with his son-in-law Moshe Sofer (The Chatam Sofer), he represents really one of the mildest types of Orthodoxy. Rabbi Eiger’s greatness of heart and selfless devotion to his community can be seen from his actions in 1831when a terrible cholera epidemic swept central and eastern Europe. Posen was among the cities stricken, and entire sections of the city were quarantined. In spite of an extremely delicate constitution, Rabbi Eiger went into the stricken sections of the city to care for the sick. For this, King Frederick William III of Prussia honored him with a special medal. Upon Rabbi Eiger’s death, his son Shlomo was appointed to the Posen rabbinical position. He was chief rabbi in Posen from 1837 to 1852 and rabbi in Kalisz afterwards. Rabbi Eiger’s legacy was preserved as well through his halachic commentaries and Talmudic novellae, which have become part of the central canon of Orthodox rabbinical literature. These include She’elot Uteshuvot (responsa); Tosafot (supercommentary on the Mishnahs commentators Bartenura and Tosafot Yom Tov); and Hagahot (supercommentary to the Shulchan Aruchs commentators, Magen Avraham and Turei Zahav). Pictured are Rabbi Akiva Eiger, his grave with a new tombstone (the original was destroyed by the Nazis), and a chart of his pedigree. There is a photo In Akiva Eagers profile on genie which looks like it may be the original tombstone, but it is not labeled as such. geni/people/Akiva-Eiger-Ginz/6000000000739415655 (Posted by Edna Kalka Grossman whose second cousin thrice removeds wifes nephew was married to Rabbi Akiva Eigers 3rd great-granddaughter)
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 23:15:01 +0000
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