Akiva Yosef Schlesinger (1838-1922) (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: עקיבא יוסף שלזינגר) was a noted

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tra ...

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

who served as the rabbinical leader of what was then Pressburg,

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, but what is now

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

.''Jews for Zion.com'' Biographical notes: Rabbi Akiva Yosef Schlesinger
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Early years

Schlesinger was born in Hungary but emigrated to israel

Scholarship

Schlesinger was a disciple of Rabbi Samuel Benjamin Sofer (the ''Ktav Sofer'') and Moshe Schick (the ''Maharam Schick''). He was the author of the ''Lev haivri'', a commentary on the last will and testament of Rabbi Moses Sofer (the ''Chatam Sofer''), a previous head rabbi of Pressburg and the father of one of his main teachers. Additionally, he is known for his unsuccessful attempt to reinstate the blowing of the ''shofar'' when

Rosh Hashana Rosh Hashanah (, , ) is the New Year in Judaism. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , ). It is the first of the High Holy Days (, , 'Days of Awe"), as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25, that occur in the late summer/early autu ...

falls on

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...

, which had been banned since the times of the

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

under the edict known as ''gezeirah d'Rabbah'', named after Rabbah bar Nahmani, a noted '' amora'' of the late 3rd-early 4th centuries.

Controversy

At times, he made very controversial statements regarding such things as the political nature of the early ''

kollel A kollel (also kolel) (, , , , a "gathering" or "collection" f scholars is an institute for full-time, advanced Torah study, study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features Shiur (Torah), shiurim (lectures) and ...

'' systems of dispensing funds to poor Jews living in

Eretz Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definitions ...

(not to be confused with the more contemporary use of the term ''

'', which refers to post-graduate institutions of talmudic study). Because of this, there was a time when his written works were put under a ''cherem'' (ban).

References

1838 births 1922 deaths Hungarian Orthodox rabbis Hungarian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Rabbis from Bratislava 19th-century Hungarian rabbis 20th-century Hungarian rabbis {{Hungary-rabbi-stub

Early years

Scholarship

Controversy

Further reading

References