Akiva Eger was born on 8 November 1761 in Eisenstadt, Austria. He was the eldest son of local Rabbi Moses Abraham Güns and Gittel (née Eger), the only daughter of Rabbi Akiva Eger the Elder from Bratislava. He took his surname from his mother. The exceptional abilities he demonstrated at an early age led to his education being undertaken by his grandfather, the well-known Talmudist Abraham Brody from Frankfurt am Main. Akiva then moved to Wrocław, where he studied under the guidance of his uncle, Benjamin Wolf Eger. He published his first treatise on the Talmud at the age of twelve. As a fifteen-year-old youth, he was already regarded as a scholar.
He began his career in Leszno, where he ran a private Talmudic university. After the fire of the city in 1790 and the loss of his property, he accepted a position of rabbinical assessor in Rawicz and later of rabbi in Mirosławiec. In 1815, he was appointed chief rabbi in Poznań. Over time, he became the informal spiritual leader of the Jews in Wielkopolskie Province. He had such great authority that non-Jews referred to him as "the Jewish Pope" (S. Lewyson, Vollständige Biographie des Rabbi Akiba Eger, Posen 1875). Akiva Eger died on 12 October 1837 in Poznań.
Akiba's fame led to numerous prints with his likeness being published in the 19th century. In the collection of the District Museum in Leszno can be found a work published by Johann Christian Winckelmann (1766-1845) and the Winckelmann and Sons publishing house he founded, which operated from 1828 to 1930 (https://st.museum-digital.de/index.php?t=people&id=10162, access: 16 March 2021).
The portrait depicts an elderly man shown in half-figure, slightly turned to the right. He is wearing a round hat trimmed with fur on his head. His face is surrounded by a thick, grey beard and equally thick hair. His countenance reflects a cheerful awareness of transience and a sense of concern for the fate of the Jewish diaspora. He is dressed in a coat trimmed with thick fur along the edges, forming a wide collar at the back. A decorative appliqué can be seen in the front slit. The entire composition is enclosed within a double frame, beneath which is the inscription: "Jakub Eger,/rabin krajowy w Poznaniu" (Jakub Eger,/national rabbi in Poznań). The publisher's mark is below the frame on the left.
The artwork was purchased in 2019 at the "Wu-el" antique shop in Szczecin.
Dariusz Czwojdrak
