The Kol Aryeh Research Institute was founded in 1949 by Rabbi Eliezer Ehrenreich, formerly rabbi of Mad, Hungary for the purpose of perpetuating and disseminating the spiritual legacy of his forebear, Rabbi Abraham Yehuda HaKohen Schwartz, author of responsa Kol Aryah and that of his descendants.
Rabbi Abraham Yehuda HaKohen Schwartz was a student of Rabbi Moses Sofer Hatam Sofer and served as rabbi in Beregzasz and Mad. His descendants were active as rabbis in Hungary, Slovakia and Rumania; they authored rabbinic books and founded and edited rabbinic journals.
In the course of its more than fifty years of activities, the Kol Aryeh Research Institute has published over 50 books that include reprints as well as new works.
About ten years ago, the institute embarked on the reproduction of the important rabbinic periodical VaYelaket Yosef, which had appeared twice a month over a period of 20 years (1898-1918) in Bonyhad Hungary.
VaYelaket Yosef featured articles on Halakha and Aggada by rabbis from various countries, printed Divrei Torah by rabbinical authorities of former generations, and carried news from the rabbinic world as well as notices about new rabbinic books.
The periodical was founded and edited by Rabbi Yosef HaKohen Schwartz, a son of Rabbi Natali HaKohen Schwartz, rabbi of Mad and a grandson of the author of Kol Aryeh, Rabbi Avraham Yehuda HaKohen Schwartz.
Rabbi Yosef Schwartz who was a student of Rabbi Yaakov Tennenbaum of Putnok, settled in Bonyhad after his marriage to the daughter of Rabbi Eliezer Chaim Deutsch. Schwartz was chosen to succeed him. In 1924 Rabbi Schwartz became the rabbi of the Mahzikei Torah Congregations of Oradea, Rumania. In 1940, the province of Transylvania, where Oradea is located, was divided between Hungary and Rumania, northern Transylvania going to Hungary. When the Germans occupied Hungary in 1944, Transylvania’s Jews shared the fate of Hungarian Jewry. Rabbi Yosef HaKohen Schwartz was killed in Auschwitz in the summer of 1944. He was 67 years old. His published writings included two volumes of responsa: Vaytizbor Yosef and Ginzei Yosef.
In 1992 the Kol Aryeh Research Institute began the publication of reproductions of VaYelaket Yosef. Each volume contained the issues of two years and featured an introduction by Rabbi Ehrenreich as well as indexes of subjects and authors compiled by Rabbi Ehrenreich’s sons.
A short time ago, the tenth and final volume of the reproductions came of the press. It embraces the issues from Tishrei 5677 (1916) until Tishrei 5678 (1917). The issue of Tishrei’ 5678 was the first issue of Velaket Yosef’s 20th years and it was also the last issue of the Torah journal, whose publication was stopped probably because of financial difficulties.
In his introduction to the final volume, Rabbi Eliezer Ehrenreich speaks of the great efforts he invested in reproducing VaYelaket Yosef, complete sets of which are very rare. It is only with great difficulty that he was able to assemble copies of all the issues that had originally appeared in print.
He expresses thanks to the L-rd for having enabled to carry out his plan to reproduce the Torah journal which in its time was widespread in Torah circles. By reproducing VaYalket Yosef, he adds, he had been able to do Hesed to the living, who will enjoy reading and studying the journal, as well as to those no longer living, the late contributors to the Torah journal.
Rabbi Ehrenreich also thanks all those who helped him in the reproduction of VaYelaket Yosef, especially his sons, Rabbi Yoel and Rabbi Naftali.
The final volume includes not only indexes of subjects and contributors to the volumes’ issues, as do the nine preceding volumes, but also a very detailed general index covering all the issues of the Torah journal. The general index which fills 275 pages consists of three parts. The first is an index of quotations from the Bible. The Babylonian and and the Jerusalem Talmud and their commentaries, Midrashim and the Zohar, and from the liturgy. The second and third parts of the general index are indexes of subjects and authors. Rabbi Josef Ehrenreich and Rabbi Naftali Ehrenreich, who compiled the general index, write in their foreword that they were guided in their work by the desire to fully acquaint the readers with the extraordinarily rich contents of VaYelaket Yosef and to help them find the studies, articles and notes in which they are particularly interested. Rabbi Josef and Naftali Ehrenreich also state that they included in the index of authors not only contributors to VaYelaket Yosef, but also persons whose views are quoted by these authors.
Included in the volume are inter alia also an article by Rabbi David Abraham Mandelbaum of Bnei Brak in praise of VaYelaket Yosef, two sermons by Rabbi Abraham HaKohen Schwartz and a photocopy of his last will and testament.
The Jewish Press, Friday, February 28, 2003