Letter for the emissary R’ Yosef Ibn Gabbai, for his mission to the Jews of North Africa. Scribal script, very beautiful. Oriental script combined with block script. With the picturesque signatures of Tiberias sages and community leaders. Supplement from the emissary. Kiyum shtar (on the back) signed by Rabbi Raphael Birdugo, av beit din of Meknes, known by his nickname, “HaMalach Raphael.” Meknes-Morocco, 1815-1816.
This emissary’s letter was given to the emissary R’ Yosef Gabbai for his mission to North African communities. In the margins of the leaf, the emissary himself adds that he appoints “a messenger for his mission” Chacham Yehudah ibn Shitreet, to the communities of Ifrane, Tamlalt[?], Zawia and Azrou. The appointment of the second messenger was done in Meknes, Morocco, in 1816, a year after the original appointment. A ktav kiyum appears on the back of the letter regarding the mission, signed by the av beit din of Meknes, Rabbi Raphael Birdugo [regarding this mission, refer to: Ya’ari, Shluchei Eretz Yisrael p. 640].
A song for a bridegroom appears on the margins of p. 2, apparently in the penmanship of the above Chacham Yehudah ibn Shitreet. The song bears an acrostic of the bridegroom’s name, Mordechai “מרדכי”.
Sages of the Tiberias community among the signatories on the emissary letter: Rabbi Yitzchak Abulafiah, Rabbi Shmuel Shoshanah, Rabbi Chaim Nissim Abulafiah, Rabbi Chizkiyah [Shabtai?] Abulafiah, Rabbi Yehudah Nechmad, Rabbi Shlomo Abulafiah, and Rabbi Asher Ashkenazi – one of the first Chassidim in Tiberias led by Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk (his signature is also in picturesque Oriental style). Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for brief biographies of the signatories.
[1] leaf, 21×28 cm. Written on both sides.
Moderate-fine condition. Aging and damp stains, with blurring of several lines in the part with the appendix of the emissary’s letter. Tears and several taped perforations, with almost no damage to text.