A DISCOVERY! A COLLECTION OF LETTERS SHEDDING NEW LIGHT ON THE FORGED ‘TALMUD YERUSHALMI ON SEDER KODOSHIM’ ...

A DISCOVERY! A COLLECTION OF LETTERS SHEDDING NEW LIGHT ON THE FORGED ‘TALMUD YERUSHALMI ON SEDER KODOSHIM’

A collection of letters revealing previously unknown facts regarding the publication of the forged ‘Talmud Yerushalmi’ on Seder Kodoshim, that shook the Jewish world.

Historical background

In early 1905, a man calling himself ‘Shlomo Yehuda Algazi Friedlander’, claimed that a brother of his living in Turkey, had come across an old manuscript containing the lost Talmud Yerushalmi on Seder Kodoshim. He convinced Yaakov Wieder, a Hebrew printer in Seini - S. Warhol (Hungary) of his story and a Kol Koreh joyfully announcing the forthcoming publication of this long-lost rabbinic treasure was published and distributed throughout the Jewish world. The news created a great sensation, and some notable rabbis expressed their delight at the discovery and praised Friedlander for its publication. He also convinced Solomon Schechter of the New York Jewish Theological Seminary to sponsor the project, and his correspondence with Schechter on the subject, in which he undertook to obtain the original manuscript for the JTS library, has been published.

The first volume of the ‘Yerushalmi’ was published in 1907, accompanied by a ‘commentary’ written by Friedlander, and was joyfully received by many rabbis and Torah scholars. But after a short time, the excitement faded as Torah scholars noticed strange passages untypical of the true Talmud Yerushalmi. The first to state unequivocally that the publication was a forgery was Rabbi Dr Dov Aryeh Ritter of Rotterdam. He was followed by others, including Rabbi Meir Don Plotzki – the author of Klei Chemda, whose Shaalu Shelom Yerushalayim provided additional proof that the purported Yerushalmi was not genuine.

Friedlander’s correspondence with Schechter seems to end in 1907, when apparently Schechter had doubts over the project and broke off contact and sponsorship. Yet the second volume of the ‘Yerushalmi’ was published in 1909, and Friedlander’s whereabouts and source of funds for that publication had remained a mystery until the discovery of these letters, which reveal R. Yaakov Gordon of Southport to have been a major sponsor of the project after Schechter distanced himself from it.

In a letter to Gordon dated late 1907, Friedlander describes the discovery of the Yerushalmi manuscript and his efforts to publish it, as well as the accusations of his opponents and his attempted refutation of their arguments. The following three letters written that year refer to Gordon’s sponsorship and continue to attempt to refute the increasing arguments against Friedlander. In the fifth letter, Friedlander apologises for a printing error in the second volume that had just been published, where Gordon’s name is mentioned as a sponsor, but given as ‘David Gordon’ rather than Yaakov. Friedlander assures him that he will have the error corrected immediately.

‘This correspondence provides much material for research on historical aspects of an interesting bibliographical forgery’

‘Shlomo Yehuda Friedlander’ is the name used by the publisher of the forged ‘Yerushalmi’, but his true identity and biography remain a mystery. According to Rabbi Ritter, his true name was Zusia and he was born in Bieschenkowiczi, Russia, and studied at the Volozhin Yeshiva, before travelling to Germany and then Hungary, settling in Szatmar, where he died in 1924.

R. Yaakov Gordon, born in Lithuania, settled in England, first in Manchester, and later in Bournemouth and Southport. A wealthy Talmudic scholar who corresponded with leading rabbinical figures of his time and is mentioned in many contemporary rabbinic periodicals and responsa collections.

1 letter. 21 x 34 cm. Very good condition.

4 postcards. Very good condition.