Nice l ong letter from the leaders of the Adat Yeshurun in Cochin, India to Sir Moses Montefiore upon his return from Morocco in wake of the blood libel and his blessed efforts on behalf of equal rights for the Jews of Morocco. Cochin, 1864.
Specifications: [1] thin blue paper. 26×20 cm.
Background: Rabbi Yaakov HaLevi Sapir visited Cochin in 1858 and documented some of the community’s customs in his travelogue ( Even Sapir , Lyck 1864, p. 58). He wrote, “they have no rabbi or Av Beit Din, but they act according to five elders and sages, and the leader is very old and honored and G-d fearing, … David Rechavi (possibly the Rabbi David mentioned here) and … the elder Shmuel Rechavi and the elder … Yitzchak Mizrachi … and one is the cantor, and shochet and bodek, and teacher and scribe, a wise and honorable man, David Shem Tov Hallegua, and all the words and judgments between man and his Creator and man between his friend are brought before the nasi and these elders, and the matter is carried according to their words.”
Unique features: The document is signed by four community leaders 1> David Yosef….2> Rabbi Yitzchak Yehudah Mizrachi 3> Rabbi Shmuel Rechavi 4> Rabbi David Shem Tov Hallegua. The letter was written by Rabbi David Shem Tov Hallegua, cantor and slaughterer in the Cochin community, who was the highest religious authority of Cochini Jewry of the time.
Condition: Fine condition. Fold marks, aging stains.