Beschreibung:

Manuscript, Zera Aharon, responsa on the laws of shechita, halachic responsa on topics of Choshen Mishpat and agunot, novellae on Talmudic treatises and homilies. Handwritten, with many signatures of the author, Rabbi Yeshaya Chananya HaCohen Katz. Dukla-Košice-Bucharest, [1913-1927]. In the interesting introduction, the author traces his family genealogy to Aharon HaCohen, both from the lineage of his father Rabbi Moshe Shimshon HaCohen and from the line of his mother Toibe who was the daughter of Rabbi Naftali Moshe HaCohen Shapira from the city of Tarnów. He notes that he is the 12th generation descended from Rabbi Natan Neta Shapira, author of Megale Amukot, and presents an unknown story about the author of Megale Amukot, related to him by his uncle Rabbi Avraham HaCohen Shapira, in the name of his father Rabbi Naftali Moshe HaCohen Shapira. The author Rabbi Yeshaya Chananya Katz, from the city of Tarnów (Poland-Galicia) lived for about 20 years in Dukla and already in 1896 exchanged halachic correspondence with well-known rabbis. A responsum from 1896 appears in the Zichron Zvi responsa Siman 9, written to "the erudite exceptional young man… Rabbi Yeshaya Katz… here in our city of Dukla". During World War I, he was appointed Rabbi of Košice and in 1920 moved to Bucharest, there he served in the rabbinate of the Orthodox community (Kehal Yere'im). The manuscript was written during the course of 15 years, with notes of dates and places where the author passed during World War I and in its aftermath. The manuscript mentions correspondence with rabbis and travels to the courts of tsaddikim for the Festival of Shavuot, according to the custom of pious men. During 1914-1915, the author still lived in Dukla, and there he wrote and signed the introduction to the composition: "The words of he who is dust under the feet of the tsaddikim and wise Torah scholars - Yeshaya Chananya Katz, who now resides in Dukla". In the summer of 1915, the author moved to Košice and served in its rabbinate. In this notebook is a sermon written in Košice on Motzei Shavuot 1915, on the occasion of the pidyon haben of "my eldest grandson, near Dukla". In Tamuz 1918, the author visited the city of Carei, and was asked by the rabbi of the city, Rabbi Shaul Broch, to respond to a complex monetary question in his stead: "…He apologized to me that due to his weakened state… he could not answer all those who asked him halachic questions and he requested that I explore the response to the question…". Further in the manuscript is another responsum concerning an agunah, written to the Carei Beit Din in 1919, with the copy of a testimony from 1914 from the Beit Din in Satmar - with a copy of the signatures of Rabbi Yehuda Greenwald, Rabbi of Satmar, Rabbi Shlomo Lifshitz son of R' Naftali Leib and Rabbi Akiva Blau son of R' Baruch. In Tamuz 1924, the author lived in Bucharest and the manuscript features a sermon which he delivered "upon the placing of the cornerstone of our synagogue" among other sermons delivered in Bucharest synagogue in the years 1926-1927, during Seuda Shlishit and on other occasions. Most of the sermons were written in Hebrew. Enclosed is another notebook with Yiddish sermons delivered in Bucharest. More than 310 written pages, (partial and faulty pagination). Approximately 20.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Wear and detached leaves. Worn and torn binding.