Willowsky, Jacob David (Ridva”z). Nimukei Ridva”z [commentary on Genesis and Exodus]

(AMERICAN JUDAICA).

Chicago

1904

FIRST EDITION. This copy signed and inscribed by the author to R. Abraham Jacob Gershon Lesser of Cincinnati.

Goldman 721.

The Ridva”z traveled to America in 1903 and was appointed Chief Rabbi of Chicago. The present work contains an important introduction pertaining to the history of Kashruth supervision in Chicago, in which the author castigated the overseeing rabbis - and the overall state of Jewish education and religious practice in America. The recipient of this volume, R. Abraham Jacob Gershon Lesser (1834-1925), was one of America’s great early rabbis. He studied in Mir and in 1880 was invited to serve as rabbi in Chicago and then Cincinnati. He was one of the founders of the Agudath HaRabbanim. See L. Jung (Ed.) Guardians of Our Heritage, pp. 345-59.