Rabbi Avraham Yaakov Friedman of Sadigura רבי אברהם יעקב פרידמן מסדיגורא
the Ruzhiner's eldest son; the Sadigura court and the quarrel that split Galicia
The eldest son of Rabbi Yisrael of Ruzhin. After the father's death in 1850 the sons settled in different towns of Bukovina and Galicia, and from each a branch went out; in Sadigura itself, where the father had spent his last years, he remained.
The court. Sadigura kept the manner Ruzhin had established: a house, a carriage, surroundings not poor but deliberately dignified. The argument was the father's: the honour is paid not to the man but to the Torah he carries.
The quarrel of 1869. Rabbi Chaim of Sanz came out against the Sadigura house, charging it with softness towards free thinking; the answer was as sharp. The quarrel spread to the communities, divided families and dragged on for years. We say that it took place and how each side explained it, and do not say who was right in it.
He died on 11 Elul 1883.
On the timeline
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Related
Sources
Acharonim and later rabbinic literature
- The Ruzhin tradition on the division of the courts among the sons — six sons and six branches
Documents of the period
- Testimonies on the Sadigura–Sanz quarrel, 1869 — both sides named; the right assigned to neither
Basis: documents and evidence.