Letter from the heads of the Tiberian community to Joseph Sebag Montefiore (Montefiore’s nephew and heir) and to Montefiore’s well-known secretary, Dr. Eliezer HaLevi. They express their condolences for the passing of Montefiore, and tell of the tremendous eulogy they delivered at the Great Synagogue in Tiberias, and of the candle that was lit in his memory i n the Beit Midrash of the Tanna Rabbi Meir Baal HaNes, that would remain lit for the duration of a year. Tiberias, 1885.
Specifications: [1] leaf. 26X21 cm. Extremely elegant scribal handwriting. Contains the rabbis’ signatures; the stamp of Rabbi Chaim son of Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch, ritual slaughterer; the stamp of the Bikkur Cholim Association of Tiberias; and the stamp of the gabbais of the Rabbi Meir Baal HaNes zy”a synagogue and the yeshiva Kotnot Ohr, for “the elevation of his soul, in the name of our brothers in the diaspora.”
Background: The eulogist was Rabbi Reuven Yeshaya Klinger, Av Beit Din of Seiwen, author of Klil Tiferet LeMoshe, in honor of Montefiore.
Unique Features: The letter is signed by the gabbai of Beit Midrash Rabbi Meir Baal HaNes and the gabbai of Bikur Cholim: Rabbi Avraham Beck – son of the famous printer Rabbi Yisrael Beck. He was one of the most important public figures in the city, the founder of the associations Bikkur Cholim and Yishuv Eretz HaKodesh; and, Rabbi Chaim son of Tzvi Hirsch, ritual slaughterer – one of the city’s sages and rabbis, and among the Chassidic elders of Tiberias. He was the trustee of Kollel Karlin and Zhitomir (Alfasi, HaChassidut VeEretz Yisrael, p. 482); along with Rabbi Moshe Goldtzweig, Rabbi Yaakov son of Yitzchak Isaac, and Rabbi Yosef Chaim son of Yissachar [the associations’ steward].
Condition: Fine. Miniscule holes on side of page without damage to text.