שאפראנער רב'ס dissertation - 1921

א קורצע ביאגראפיע

I know that his kids and eyniklach are somewhat surprised - shocked, really, that this surfaced. They had heard that he burned it before leaving to Hungary, and that meant that it ceased to exist... But some very determined young man went and found it, and it didn't take much to get it. This is the world we live in. I think I heard R. Matisyahu Solomon refer to the computer as a metaphor for וכל מעשיך בספר נכתבים, that everything we do is פארשריבען for all eternity. Even if we think that we burned it. In the case of the Shoproner Rov it was as if he was running from this for the rest of his life. One might say that some of his extreme opinions were   to compensate for all the חכמות חיצוניות that he learned as a child and as a young man. The page "Benutzte Literatur" (page 82 of 85) is a who's who of ספרים חיצונים. Heady stuff.

Received via e-mail from "a friend": "The story goes as follows. Someone told Reb Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg about Shoproner Rav's 'תורת א, to which he replied, "Who, Shimon Posen? I saw his doctoral dissertation and it was full of apikorsus." I heard the story from my friend b'shem his father be'shem the late R. Yitzchok Heilbraun z"l (if you know who that is, if not ask around about the Baal Koreh in the 7:00 o'clock minyan in Pupa Shul on Bedford Ave.) who heard that statement from Weinberg himself. This story makes perfect sense considering Rav Posen published the doctorate in Giessen, Gemany in 1921 and Weinberg studied at the time in Giessen under Paul Khale. What I can't figure out is, how come R. Posen studied in Frankfurt University, and published the dissertation in Giessen. Also, check out the last 2 pages of the doctorate where R. Posen writes some interesting biographic details about himself that do not appear in any biography of him..."

The dissertation of Rav Shimon Yisroel Posen of Shopron - 1921

As a bonus we bring you a few pages from RNK's MOAG where he discusses the Shoproner Rov as well as some of his contemporaries. Fodder for some good conversation, is what this is.

Pages From Nathan Kamenetsky - Making of a Godol

PicturesOfTheDay

 
Pictured: Shoproner Rov - Reb Shimon Yisroel Posen (r, with Rabbinic, flat Beaver Hat) & and (hidden) Rav Yisroel וועלץ (l) ראב"ד דקה"י בודאפעסט, and later in Yerushalayim. Center, with uniform - Rabbi Shenkelevsky from the Joint; Standing First on the left - Reb Shemtov Meyer - Mechutin to the Tosher Rebbe, father of the Lizhensker Rebbe of Monsey.. The Two young men Standing in the center wearing caps are children of the Shoproner Rov. We need to identify the man with the Platchiker Biber hat next to Rav Woltz.

 Seated right is the Shoproner Rov, left is Rav Yisroel Woltz of Budapest, zt"l. Child standing First to the left - Reb Avraham Chaim Spitzer. Seated second to the left is Reb Avraham Steinmetz, Sitting 2nd from the right is Reb Asher Zelig Steinmetz. Man sitting First left is also seen in the First picture, albeit without his hat. If you see other people in the picture that you can name, please do so in the comments. I should put a watermark on these never-before-seen pictures, but who has time? and why should I keep them from stealing it? let them enjoy.