The massive project to reorder, typeset, and index the two volumes of the Sha'arei Dayah is nearing completion. All that remains to be done is the writing of a brief biography of the author, by Rabbi Yehoshua Mondshine of Hebrew University and its Jewish National and University Library.
When Rabbi Mondshine is finished, and if we raise enough money, the book will go to press. From there it will be purchased by and donated to university libraries and to rabbinical schools. Copies of the 1878 and 1886 originals are in the libraries of USC, UPenn, Harvard, Yeshiva University and others. But these volumes are very fragile, the typeface they are set in is very difficult to read, the legal essays are arranged by date written instead of by topic, and there is no index! In effect, the books are useless to all but the most accomplished and determined scholars.
Our republication will correct those problems and make these works widely available for the first time.
The author, Rabbi Chaim Yehuda Leib Litvanoff, known popularly as the Sosnitzer Illui and the Smorgoner Gaon, is now almost unknown. But 100 years ago, he was one of the foremost rabbinic judges and scholars in the world, a man whose legal opinion was sought by literally hundreds of rabbis, including many who are household names today. Rabbi Litvanoff was also one of the earliest supporters of Zionism, and was the foremost expert in the world on the laws of Jewish divorce and agunot (women abondoned by their husbands without a divorce).
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But, because Rabbi Litvanoff did not write works intended for popular consumption, and because he was ill for many years, eventually passing away at 63 years of age in 1903, his work gradually became forgotten as his students themselves aged and passed on.
Both historians and rabbinic scholars egarly await publication. You can help by donating to make this publication possible. Dedication opportunities are still available. Please contact us for more information. (Contact information is located on the left side of this page.)
Thank You!
