Sefer Divrei Chochomim and Sicha Nea by Myer Joel Wigoder of Dublin, Ireland, Jerusalem, 1919.

R’ Myer Joel Wigoder was a lay-scholar who published fifteen works on Midrashic and Aggadic topics. He was born in the village of Vigoda, near Vexna, Lithuania in 1855 and had a thorough Yeshiva education. Upon losing all his possessions in a fire in the town of Laizovo soon after he was married, he emigrated in 1890 to Dublin, Ireland. In 1892 he founded the Camden Street Chevrah (a small synagogue) at 52 Camden Street in the Portobello area of Dublin. This synagogue closed in 1916 upon the foundation of the Greenville Hall  (originally called Greenville House synagogue.

He was eventually joined by his brother, Doctor George “Selig” Wigoder. Both brothers wrote and published books. They were direct descendants of Rabbi Isiah Horowitz (1555-1630), known as the “Sheloh” after his famous work, Shenei Luchos Habris.  George Wigoder was President of the Greenville House Synagogue from 1916 to 1920 and 1929 to 1934.

I have written previously about Beis Evel and Beis HaRoeh, which Myer Joel Wigoder published in 1914. Sefer Divrei Chochomim was published after the Great War – the First World War, which had a great impact on Jewish communities across Europe.

Divrei Chochomim contains words of wisdom and science, and proverbs which Myer Joel Wigoder heard in the name of the great Rabbis and famous sages. The book was sent to be printed in Jerusalem – there were no Hebrew printers in Dublin at the time.  R’ Wigoder mentions (paragraph 101)  Rabbi Yitzchok Isaac Herzog, at the time Rabbi of Belfast – he was about to come to Dublin and would later become Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel. Printed with this book is an additional work, Sicha Nea.

I also have the next part of this work, called Lashon Chochomim, published by Myer Joel Wigoder in 1922.

Here is the introduction: