A Short-Lived Relic of Rabbi Jonathan Eibeschuetz - a guest post by Prof. Shnayer Z. Leiman

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I am pleased and excited to present this guest post by Prof. Leiman. While I don't think he needs an introduction in this venue, and I don't believe he wants one, duty obliges me to apply the statement ×›×œ הבורח מן הגדולה גדולה מחזרת ×�חריו. - S.

A recent issue of Kehilot, the Wednesday supplement to Ha-Mevasser, a Haredi newspaper published in Israel, featured on its front page a photograph of a Jewish relic. The relic was a decorated ceramic plate that was identified as belonging to Rabbi Jonathan Eibeschuetz, the venerable eighteenth century rabbi and talmudist who served with distinction as Rabbi and Rosh Yeshiva in Prague, Metz, and Altona-Hamburg.
A brief note accompanying the photograph explains that the plate had been used by R. Jonathan Eibeschuetz and was then passed down in his family from one generation to the next. It came into the possession of R. Leibush Eibeschuetz, a direct descendant who settled in Jerusalem early in the twentieth century. In turn, his daughter, Rebbetzin Samet inherited it from him. It was her practice to use the plate for the Seder plate on Passover eve. A grandson from her second marriage (to R. Abraham Joshua Heschel), Rabbi Menahem Shlomo Bekerman – the well known head of  ×ž×•×¡×“ות טשכנוב in Israel – owns the plate today.
Alas, even a glance at the photograph of the plate indicates that it is a commemorative plate celebrating the setting and life of a hero who does not appear to be Jewish. More importantly, an inscription in Cyrillic script in the center of the plate raises an obvious question. Why would R. Jonathan Eibeschuetz possess a commemorative plate with an inscription he almost certainly could not read? It gets worse. The Russian inscription under an iconic statue clearly reads (in translation): Monument of Prince Vorontsov.
Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov’s monument stands today in Odessa, at the very place it stood when it was first erected in 1863. Vorontsov (1782-1856) was a Russian prince and field marshal, famous for his exploits in the Napoleonic wars and in the Caucasian wars. He died and was buried in Odessa.
The commemorative ceramic plate, with its depiction of the Vorontsov monument, is often replicated and reissued. No issue of the ceramic plate could have appeared prior to November 9, 1863, when the monument was unveiled for the first time in Odessa. Despite his rich imagination and mastery of kabbalistic teaching, it does not appear likely that R. Jonathan Eibeschuetz  (d. 1764) owned a commemorative plate that was issued in 1863 or later.

 I am deeply grateful to Rabbi Menachem Silber for bringing the Ha-Mevasser Kehilot account to my attention.

(All images may be enlarged by right-clicking and opening a new window. -S.)