Large archive [over 100 documents] of the emissary of Tiberias and Hebron, Rabbi Natan son of Chaim Amram. 19th century.
Specifications: Approximately [110] leaves, paper. Sizes vary. Handwriting varies. Signed autographs.
Unique Features: Before us is part of an archive of Rabbi Amram’s with over one hundred items, including dozens of receipts for donations he received in various communities, mostly in Italy, and letters sent to him to Italy and Alexandria. He added his signature to many of the letters. The letters were sent to many communities in which he visited, including Pisa, Pitigliano, Livorno, Cento, Ferraro, Lugo, Pissarro, Senigallia, Ancona, Rome, Urbino and more.
The archive has been checked superficially, and almost certainly contains important documents.
Rabbi Natan Amram, [1791-1870] was born in Safed, scion of a Sephardic family of rabbis and emissaries. He served as rabbi of Aleppo and as a rabbi in a yeshiva in Damascus. In 1825 he went as an emissary of Tiberias to Alexandria in Egypt where he served as rabbi and dayan. In 1835 he went as an emissary for Hebron, wandered around Italy and visited many Jewish communities throughout Italy. He left Italy due to the Cholera outbreak there and went to Turkey, returned to Italy and traveled from there to France: Marseilles, Avignon, Nice and Toulouse and their environs, Bordeaux and Paris. In 1851 he returned to Alexandria and from 1863 until his passing he served as its chief rabbi.
Refer to: Lilach Turgeman’s essay “Rabbi Natan Amram – Emissary of the Hebron Congregation, ” submitted to the Jewish History Department, Jewish Sciences Department, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 2011.
Varying Conditions: Moderate-very fine.