Rabbinische Gutachten über die Beschneidung [Rabbinical opinions on circumcision], by Salomon Abraham Trier. Frankfurt am Main, 1844. Most in German, many parts in Hebrew.
On the front free endpaper is a handwritten self-dedication (combination of German and Hebrew) by the owner Dr. Wormser in which he relates that he received the book in 1845 from his teacher the author R. Zalman Trier [who ordained Dr. Wormser for the rabbinate in 1834]. He writes that his teacher severely rebuked him because he did not write an article on this subject to publicize in this book: "Why did you not respond with 'your eloquent language' to the call of your Torah companion R. Shmuel Bondy of Mainz to be zealous on behalf of G-d['s mitzvoth]? A young man with knowledge such as yours, is forbidden to keep quiet at 'such a time'… to my anguish, I was disappointed! So said the Rebbe…who for over 90 years… and his strength has not waned…".
This was written by R. Shlomo Wormser (1814-1887), son of R. Shmuel Wormser Rabbi of Langen-Schwalbach and grandson of R. Shlomo Zalman Wirmash Rabbi of Fulda. Apparently, as we can glean from this dedication, he too was asked by R. Bondy of Mainz, to send a letter protesting the abolition of circumcision, however, he did not send a letter.
In 1843, in a Frankfurt daily, an article was published by the "Friends of the Reform" in which they called for the complete abolition of the mitzvah of circumcision. A Reform teacher in Frankfurt named Yosef Yahelson (1777-1851) even wrote a propaganda booklet in which he declares that every Jewish institution is entitled to exchange circumcision with a different ritual. "Friends of the Reform" blamed circumcision as a cause for several crib-deaths at that time. The Frankfurt municipality buckled under this attack and conceded to list also uncircumcised children as Jews in the population registrars.
The elderly Rabbi of Franfurt, R. Shlomo Zalman Trier (1758-1847) fought this trend with all his might and submitted several applications to the city council to retreat from its intention, since by Jewish law an uncircumcised boy is not considered Jewish. To prevail upon Jewish and Christian public opinion, R. Zalman Trier together with Frankfurt Torah leaders, R. Yissachar Ber Adler and R. Aharon Fuld, author of Beit Aharon began to amass opinions of Jewish Torah scholars and of Jewish intellectuals regarding the essentiality of circumcision. In this book, R. Shlomo Zalman Trier gathered 28 written opinions and published them in a comprehensive book on the subject.
Writings of famous Torah scholars are included in this compilation: R. Yitzchak Dov HaLevi Würzburg, R. Shimshon Refael Hirsh (at the time he served as Rabbi of Emden), R. Ya'akov Ettlinger, the "Aruch LaNer" of Altona, R. Ya'akov Zvi of Kollnburg, author of Ktav V'Hakabbalah, and many more rabbis alongside non-Orthodox intellectuals such as: Yom Tov Lipman Tzunz of Berlin, Yitzchak Noach Manheimer of Vienna and Shmuel David Luzzatto (Shadal) of Padua.
XXIV, 240 pages, 19.5 cm. Good condition. Contemporary binding.
On the title page: Als manuskript gedruckt [printed as a manuscript]. According to the researcher R. B.S. Hamburger (HaYeshiva HaRama B'Furth, Part 3, p. 521), this book was defined as a manuscript to avoid opening a public controversy on the topic. He contends that the book was printed in a very limited number of copies to be given to those involved in the issue and was never sold at bookstores. Hamburger also wrote that "at present, this book is one of the scarcest [books]", despite the extensive coverage its content received in the papers of those days.