"Portrait of the famous rabbi R. Yaakov Ettlinger, Rabbi of Altona and the region" / "Jacob Aaron Ettlinger, Oberrabbiner in Altona". [Hamburg]: Ch. [Charles] Fuchs, [ca. 1840].
Lithographic print with portrait of R. Yaakov Ettlinger in his youth, wearing a rabbinic coat, in the first years of his tenure as Rabbi of Altona. The lithograph was produced by engraver Ferdinand Heylandt (with his printed signature: "Heylandt").
At the bottom of the portrait appear two lines handwritten by R. Yaakov Ettlinger (in lithograph), with a quotation from the introduction to his first book, Bikurei Yaakov (Altona, 1836).
R. Yaakov Yukev Ettlinger
(1789-1871), Rabbi of Altona and the region, was a foremost leader of German Jewry and a fierce opponent of the Reform movement. In 1828, he was appointed Rabbi of the Ladenburg region, residing in nearby Mannheim, where he served as yeshiva dean and Kloiz rabbi.
In 1836, he began his tenure as rabbi of the Three Communities (Altona, Hamburg and Wandsbek).
He authored the following books: Aruch LaNer on the Talmud, Bikurei Yaakov, Responsa Binyan Tzion, Minchat Ani on the Torah, and other works, and was the founder and author of the Orthodox periodical Shomer Tzion HaNe'eman. Leading German rabbis were his disciples, including R. Samson Refael Hirsch; R. Azriel Hildesheimer, and other renowned disciples who glorified Ashkenazic communities in that generation.
Approx. 19X27 cm; matted: approx. 40X48 cm. Fair condition. Stains and wear. Tears and open tears, affecting margins of portrait, repaired with paper.
The present lithograph (not matted) was previously auctioned by Kedem, Auction 62, Lot 356.
