Kosher for Passover paper seal certificate for the Sons of Henrik Franck coffee, under the supervision of Rabbi Simon Sofer Schreiber, 1932.
Gift of the Leah Adler zt"l Rare Books and Manuscripts Fund.

It's never too early to start preparing for Passover! This kosher for Passover certificate (hechsher) for coffee is dated 23 Kislev 5693 [December 22, 1932], two days before Chanukah, in preparation for Passover 1933.  The coffee was under the supervision of Rabbi Simon Sofer Schreiber, a grandson of the Hatam Sofer (1762-1839), a renowned Orthodox rabbi and head of the Pressburg Jewish community. The detailed document explains that the kashruth certificate is specifically for wares from the factory of the Sons of Henrik Franck in Mosonszentjános, and only for containers sealed with a paper band bearing Rabbi Schreiber’s stamped signature. A sample of the paper seal is affixed to the kashruth certificate. In addition to Rabbi Schreiber’s signature, the narrow paper strip included a visual reference, a coffee grinder, the trademark of the Franck company. The language of the hechsher, “this year too, the factory is under my strict supervision” indicates that 1932 was not the first time Rabbi had Schreiber certified Sons of Henrik Franck coffee as kosher for Passover. The final year he certified the coffee is unknown.

Kosher for Passover certificate for the Sons of Henrik Franck coffee, under the supervision of Rabbi Simon Sofer Schreiber, 1932.
Gift of the Leah Adler zt"l Rare Books and Manuscripts Fund.

Rabbi Schreiber was the chief rabbi of the community of Eger (Erlau), Hungary, and founder of the yeshiva there. He taught in the yeshiva until the Nazis transported the community to Auschwitz in June 1944, where he was immediately murdered at the age of ninety-four. For more information on the history of the kashruth of coffee for Passover and whether or not coffee beans were kitniot, see:  Jews welcome coffee: tradition and innovation in early modern Germany / Robert Liberles. Waltham, Mass.: Brandeis University Press, c2012, p. 44-45. Posted by Shulamith Z. Berger