Chaim Hirschensohn Archive.

Rabbi Chaim (Hayyim) Hirschensohn was born in Safed in 1857. In the mid-1860s, he moved with his family to Jerusalem. There, the family opened a yeshiva and a printing house, which was unusual as many of the old yishuv (Jewish residents of the pre-State Land of Israel) lived off of disbursements and donations from abroad. Hirschensohn studied in yeshiva in Jerusalem and then in Eastern Europe. In 1874, he married Eva (also Chava) HaCohen. In 1883 he published his first book, and a year later launched a monthly publication, Ha-Misderonah, where he succeeded in enlisting the support of many rabbis and leaders (Rabbi Esriel Hildesheimer, Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann, Yechiel Michael Pines, Micha Yosef Berdichevsky and others). During his time in Jerusalem, Hirschensohn was among the founders of the Jerusalem branch of the Bnai Brith association in 1888, and in 1892 co-founded the Midrash Abarbanel library (which would later become the National Library of Israel). He was also a member of the Va'ad ha-Lashon ha-Ivrit (the Hebrew Language Committee) and the Safah Berura (plain language) association for spoken Hebrew in the Land of Israel. In addition, he taught at the Laemel (also Lamel or Lemel) school in Jerusalem. His independent activity and views expressed on the pages of Ha-Misderonah, aroused the ire of both the people of the yishuv and the supporters of modernization, and he was eventually forced to leave Jerusalem and the Land of Israel in 1896. Hirschensohn first immigrated to Constantinople (now Istanbul), where he founded the Tiferet Zvi Hebrew school. In 1903, he participated as a delegate in the Zionist Congress in Basel, and then traveled to the USA, where he was appointed Rabbi of the Hoboken New Jersey community in 1904, a position he held until his death in 1935. Hirschensohn's halachic approach was groundbreaking and innovative in his time. He expressed his exegetical and halachic thought in 15 books, the most famous of which is Malki be’Kodesh (6 volumes). Hirschensohn's personal archive was distributed among his descendants with most apparently preserved by his son-in-law, David de Sola Pool, who served as rabbi at the Congregation Shearith Israel in New York City. Another, smaller portion was inherited by his great-grandson, Rabbi David Sackton of Jerusalem. In 2022, Rabbi Sackton deposited the archive in his possession with the National Library of Israel. The archive includes four series: Series 01: Certificates and manuscripts of Chaim Hirschenzon. Series 02: Correspondence of the Hirschenzon family, mainly letters from Chaim Hirschenson and his wife Chava to his daughters and son. Series 03: Rabbi Chaim Hirschenson's correspondence with rabbis and figures of his generation. Series 04: Letters and works by Nechama Hirschenson - his daughter Prof. Nima (Nechma) Adlerblum. The archive was registered and made available with the support of the Morris and Beverly Foundation Baker. Read more