Five documents in Dutch: Four documents connected to the Jewish community in the city of Ootmarsum, Holland between the years 1756-1779.
One letter from the year 1815 from L.D. Meyer in the city of Hague to the famous scientist Professor Th[eodorus] Van Swinderen in the city of Groningen, Holland.
A document in Hungarian from J. Kalisch from the city of Moson in Hungary, 1861.
A document in German about the termination of work of a Jewish teacher in the city of Deutschkreuz on the Austro-Hungarian border in 1856.
Two documents from the city of Kittsee from the years 1852 and 1854.
A document in Romanian from the community of Darabani in Romania from the year 1916 signed by the Rabbi of the community Nachum Shemarayahu Schechter, author of the book “Perach Shoshan” on Avot and other books, and additional community members.
10 documents of varying sizes. Checked in a superficial manner. Some of them with original red wax stamps. Fine-Very Fine condition.
A large varied archive of hundreds of documents which contains small sections of a Bukharan Geniza, letters from Rabbis, yeshivot and soup kitchens, Torah novaelle from Rabbanim, trade letters from Palestine, the Jewish Agency, the First Knesset and more.
Hundreds of unorganized documents, in five folders. The descriptions below are a general and un-encompassing description of the folders’ content:
[1] Letters from Rabbis, Rabbinical Court rulings, Yeshivot and soup kitchens, Torat Chaim Yeshiva, Torah novaelle in Rabbinic handwriting, Jerusalem, 1920’s.
[1] Trade letters in Yiddish, D.Solomon, England, 1930’s. Hebrew University 1945, the Jewish Agency Bombay, the United Religious Front of the first Knesset: signatures of D.Z. Pinkas, Avraham Reines, Moshe Sharet, Azriel Carlebach.
[1] Geniza from the Bukharan Quater, Jerusalem, beginning of the century: letters, manuscripts of prayers, lists of donors, receipts, telegrams, all in Eastern handwriting in Hebrew as well as Arabic, complete and partial letters.
[1] The personal archive of Rabbi Efraim Greenblatt, author of “Revavot Efraim”. Words of Torah, responsa, letters to the great Rabbis of the generation, personal letters, drafts of sermons for his book ‘Doresh Tov’. Letters to Rabbi Yechiel Avraham Zilber. 1940’s – end of the 20th century.
Contains hundreds of documents in varying conditions, sold as it is.
A large archive of the history of Jerusalem in the modern era. Circa 1876-1930.
A large archive which contains some 65 items, including booklets, ledgers and books of regulations of societies for establishing neighborhoods in Jerusalem, in some of the ledgers are the handwritten signatures of the heads of the societies.
Below is a partial and not representative list:
* Book of regulations for the Yishuv Eretz Yisrael in the Holy Land Society, which is called Chevrat Avodat Ha’Adamah V’Geulat Ha’Aretz. [1876]. * Book of Covenant and Memorial for the Agudat Mosdei Ha’Yishuv Society [for the establishing of Petach Tikva]. Jerusalem [1881]. * Kuntress Sha’arei Chessed…with the signature of Rabbi Chaim Yosef Sonnenfeld. * Ezrat Nidachim L’Tiferet Moshe V’Yehudit Society. Jerusalem, 1884, 5 booklets. *Regulations… of the thirty houses called by the name Sha’ar HaPina. Jerusalem, 1889. * A ledger of the Elef L’Matteh Society. Jerusalem, [1889].
*A transcription of the large ledger of the ‘Derech Chaim U’Gemilut Chassadim’ Society in the Or HaChaim Study Hall. Jerusalem, 1889. * Book of regulations of Me’ah She’arim. Jerusalem, [1889]. * Regulations and Laws of the Sha’arei Zedek Society. Jerusalem [1890]. *Regulations of the Yemin Moshe Society for the Natan Street department. Jerusalem. [1892]. *Regulations and Laws of the Adirah Knesset Yisrael… Society, Jerusalem, in the Solomon Brothers Printing Press, [1899]. * Regulations of the Sha’arei Chessed Society, Jerusalem, [1909]. *Regulations of the Jurat el Anab neighborhood committee. * Report of ‘Bayit Ve’Gan’ Jerusalem, 1925. Including the plans of the Bayit Ve’Gan neighborhood.
* Regulations of the Yafe Nof neighborhood, [1925]. *Shoshanat Zion, a society to establish a neighborhood around Jerusalem. [1922].
The archive was not properly investigated, it contains much material about the establishment of neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Without a doubt, it contains rare items which are not found at all in libraries and possibly even unique items.
A detailed list will be sent to anyone who requests.
Fine general condition.
First Hebrew municipal promissory note. Fundraising for infrastructure to provide water to the colony, with a heter iska, from the Vaad HaMoshavot Petach Tikva. 1911. Signed by the council heads.
[1] leaf. 26×15 cm. Written on both sides, with 5 (of 8) stubs stamped for annual redemption.The certificate is signed by Shlomo Zalman Gissin, president; Yehoshua Stampfer, secretary; B. Machlis, treasurer. With an Ottoman revenue stamp for 20 piastres. The document is written exclusively in Hebrew.
Petach Tikvah was the first colony in Palestine. It was founded in 1878 as an agricultural settlement. One of its primary problems was securing funds and building a water supply, and much effort was invested in these two areas – as Yoel Moshe Solomon described in his diary.In 1911, an agreement was signed between the colony’s council and Bezalel Yaffe, in which Yaffe agreed to establish a central water pumping plant to provide water for the orchards around the colony in return for a 30-year concession. Bezalel Yaffe traveled to Egypt to learn about pumping water. This document indicates that he also raised funds from local Jews for this project while he was there.This promissory note was purchased by Mordechai Moshli during Yaffe’s visit to Egypt. Moshli was the grandson of Rabbi Avraham Eliezer Moshli, a descendant of the Chozeh of Lublin and son of Zerach Alter Moshli, a founder of the Neveh Tzedek neighborhood and clockmaker, the one who put the clock in the Jaffa clock tower. This historic document testifies to the Vaad HaMoshavot’s careful observance of the mitzvot via the heter iska.
Very fine condition.
Song composed in honor of the visit of Emperor Franz Joseph — warm words of admiration and love.
Nella fausta occasione che la sacra maesta di Francesco Giuseppe. Magnificent booklet with a special song in honor of Emperor Franz Joseph’s visit to Italy. Composed by the Beit Midrash L’Rabbanim in Padua, Italy. Printed in Italy, 1856.
[13] leaves, 33 cm. Colored title page, quality paper. Hebrew, Italian, German, and Syriac.
Franz Joseph I (1830-1916) was the Austrian Emperor and King of Bohemia and Hungary. He was one of the most admired European leaders of the 19th century. He had a tolerant relationship with the Jews. During his various journeys and visits, many admiring words were written about him such as this song, which was printed in honor of his visit.
Original but blemished paper jacket. Aging stains. Fine condition.
Verfassung der Hamburger Deutsch-Israelitischen Gemeinde. Bylaws of the Hamburg community. Hamburg, 1908.
18 pages, 21.5 cm. German. 65 bylaws divided according to subject.
Printed paper jacket. Very fine condition.
Statut des Deutsch Israelitischen Synagogen-Verbandes zu Hamburg. Bylaws of the Federation of Hamburg Synagogues. Updated in 1927. Hamburg, 1927.
22 pages, 22 cm. German. The laws were first instituted in 1868 and were updated in 1927.
Printed paper jacket. Front section is detached. Minimal aging stains. Fine-very fine condition.
16 varied calendars of the KKL, Jewish communities in Europe and America – 1911-1958.
[5] pocket calendars of the KKL, Palestine, from the years: 1936-7, 1942-3, 1943-4, 1944-5, 1945-6.
[3] The KKL’s journal ‘Moledet’ with the addition of calendars from the years: 1946-7, 1948-9, 1952-3.
[2] Israeli Art Calendar of Keren HaYesod from the years 1956-7 and 1957-8.
[1] ‘The Pictures of the Land of Israel Calendar for the year 1939-40’ with photographs from daily life in Israel and verses from the prophets, Palestine 1939.
[1] Calendar in Yiddish, for the donors to the Bikur Cholim Hospital, New York, incomplete, contains the months of Adar-Tishrei 1947.
[1] Jüdischer Jugend-Kalender 5672, Frankfurt 1911.
[1] Calendar in German (1910?), incomplete, with the dates of death of central figures of German Jewry alongside advertisements.
[1] Siddur and calendar for 1932-3, Bratislava, Slovakia. Incomplete.
Handbook of Jewish Information and 50 Year Date-Finder, New York, 1936.
Varying conditions, some of them incomplete, fine general condition.
Calendar for 1814, according to the customs of Poland, Lithuania, and Reisen… Vilna, at the press of Rabbi Menachem b”r Baruch. [1813].
[16] pages, 17 cm. Yiddish explanations.
Calendar with holidays for the entire year and the order of the Torah readings, Jewish holidays alongside various Catholic holidays, times of the moldot and tekufot and the deadline for kiddush levanah. With sunset and sunrise times in Vilna.
Especially rare calendar. Not in the National Library.
Cardboard binding. Cropped, affecting a number of words. Minimal aging stains. Fine condition.
Calendar through 1959. With moldot and tekufot. With all the holidays and fast days, and predictions regarding the weather, cost of living, medicine, and more. [Warsaw, 1845].
6 [1] 7-12 leaves. 20 cm. Printed without the author’s name and without year or location of print. The calendar starts in 1846. It includes many charts, with a large picture of the palm of a hand with hints for remembering the tekufot and a lengthy explanation of these hints. The last pages feature predictions for the future: rainy or arid years, feast or famine, and auspicious times for medical cures.
Not bound, deckled edges. Aging stains. Fine condition. Rare.
* 150-year calendar. Calendar for designating years, Rosh Chodesh, holidays, fasts, and Torah readings. By David Koptorowitz. Vilna, [1864]. [4] leaves. 21 cm. Includes ten numbered calendars.
* Calendar for the sixth millenium. With the moldot, tekufot, and mazalot, with secular calculations, public transportation timetables, fair dates, shipping prices and more. Published by R’ Avraham Wachs. Warsaw, [1889]. 70 leaves. 17.5 cm. With dozens of charts. Bound with Shivchei HaAri, Warsaw, 1875.
* Limudei Mikvaot, along with a Jerusalem calendar for 1893 and 1894. Laws of Mikveh by David HaKohen of Vilna, by his son Feivish Kohen. Jerusalem, [1893]. 80, 89-109 [1] page, with a jacket title page. 13.5 cm. Details according to the Bibliography of the Hebrew Book. Interesting work, apparently printed as a fundraising tool. The last leaves are in German.
Varying sizes and conditions. Overall fine condition.
A file with dozens of music notes: Yiddish, Chassidic, Zionist and traditional songs for Shabbat and the High Holy Days. Printed notes from Europe and many handwritten notes, all of the leaves are with the personal stamp (some of them are signed) of Y. Segal Rosenbach. Europe and Israel, 1930’s-1950’s.
Dozens of leaves, some with handwritten notes.
The cantor and composer Y. Segal Rosenbach, known for his lyrical tenor voice. His biographical details are unknown, apart from a poster from 1932 which announces that “The cantor Y. Segal Rosenbach has acquired a reputation in the music world, the German media greatly praises him”. After his immigration to Israel he appeared many times (in the 1950’s) at important cultural events, and served as cantor on the High Holy Days. He put out many disks of rare Yiddish songs. His songs and melodies were preserved in the website zamreshet, and in the Sound Archives of the National Library. Seeing that the cantor dealt with preserving unknown songs, it is possible that some of the songs in this file are exclusive.
Moderate – fine condition.
Victoria Psalms: specially composed for the service at the Great Synagogue, London. In honor of Queen Victoria’s fiftieth birthday. London, June 21, 1887.
[5] leaves, 25 pages of notes. 26 cm. English.
Booklet of music notes with musical renditions of Psalms, composed for the fiftieth birthday celebration of Queen Victoria by noted cantor Marcus Hast (1840-1911), cantor in the Great Synagogue in London. Appropriate chapters of Psalms were selected. The introduction includes an original, adapted English translation of the Psalms (although the words of the Hebrew verses were sung). For example, a verse in Chapter 61 is translated: Let our Queen abide before thee in mercy and love.
Exceptionally rare work. Only one other copy is known, in the HUC library in New York.
Original blue paper jacket, with title page text. Margins have been professionally restored. The leaves of the booklet are in very fine condition.
Passport, with picture and signature, of pianist Arthur Rubinstein. United States, 1955-1958.
[1] passport, 57 pages – 27 are extra added pages. Signature and picture, along with dozens of signatures and visas from countries throughout the world, from 1955 to 1958.
Arthur Rubenstein was one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century. He was educated in Warsaw and Berlin, and went on his first international tour at the age of 19, touring Europe and the United States. He lived in the US during the Second World War and received citizenship in 1946. He played for over eight decades! He was internationally acclaimed, in particular for his classic renditions and for his encouragement of Spanish music. He won a number of Grammy awards. He was a friend of Israel, while maintaining his love for his homeland, Poland.
This passport is actually a log of Rubenstein’s travels that includes the signatures of 19 countries where he visited and performed between 1955 and 1958, including Israel and countries in Europe and Central and South America.
Very fine condition.
