“Without [you], no man may raise his hand nor his foot to tread there”: Beautiful letter from the leaders of Kollel Chaba”d in Jerusalem with a request and an appeal to Sir Moshe Montefiore and his wife Judith to help the Kollel’s emissary, R’ Nissim Shmuel Medini, who was sent to the American continent. Jerusalem, 1875.
In this missive, the heads of the kollel describe the progression of their difficult situation. Due to hunger and huge debts, they were forced to sell the courtyard of the synagogue and the beit midrash that were bought with a mortgage. As a result of the Christians’ desire to buy it, because “they are wont to swallow up sacred sites, ” they decided to take out large loans to repurchase it, and they are presently sending an emissary to America.
The letter is in beautiful scribal script with nine handwritten signatures. The signatories include: the gaon Rabbi Eliyahu Yosef Rivlin , a rabbi from Drybin who ascended to Jerusalem where he stood at the helm of the local Chaba”d Chassidim, the author of Ohalei Yosef (Jerusalem, 1868), Rabbi Shneur Zalman Shneurson great-grandson of the Ba’al HaTanya, among the leaders of the Chaba”d Chassidim in Jerusalem, author of Nimukei Shazabani (Jerusalem, 1877).
[2] leaf, 21×27 cm. High-quality light-bluish paper.
Fine condition. Aging stains. Fold marks. Individual perforations. Tiny tears, without blemishes or lack.