Letter from Rabbi Yissachar Atzraf and his Beit Din to Moshe Montefiore. In the letter they relate that they fulfilled his request to pray for the welfare of the great queen of Britain who was saved from death. [Jerusalem], 1882.
Specifications: [1] leaf, paper. 22×28 cm. Beautiful scribal handwriting. Signed by the great Sefardic sages of Jerusalem: Rabbi Shlomo Vachnun, Rabbi Shlomo Abu Shadid and Rabbi Chaim Maimon Amiel. Signatures of the rabbis and the stamps of Rabbi Yissachar Atzraf, of the Kolelot Kehilot Kodesh HaMaaravim and of the Committee of the Sefardic communities.
Unique Features: Historical document which sheds light on the attitude of the Moroccan community of Jerusalem toward the British empire, the queen and Sir Montefiore, for whom they are praying at the Western Wall.
Background: In May 1882, a young assassin shot at the Queen with a pistol while she rode in her carriage through St. James Park. A month later the Queen experienced another assassination attempt, when a young man named John William Bean tried to shoot her. Montefiore sent a letter to communities throughout the Jewish world asking them to hold a service of prayer and thanksgiving in the synagogues.
Rabbi Yissachar Atzraf (1807-1892) – Av Beit Din of his native city of Sale. Rabbi and father-in-law of the angel Rabbi Rafael Ankawa. He was a great Torah scholar and a holy man and many miraculous stories are told about him (refer to Nachalat Avot by Rabbi Mashash, part two page 266). He immigrated to Israel in 1880, and succeeded Rabbi Rafael Elazar Ben Tovo, author of the Pekudat Elazar as head of the Sefardic community after the latter’s passing. He was revered and respected by the rabbis of all the groups and sectors in Jerusalem, and was considered to be a holy man and a miracle worker.
Condition: Fine – very fine, fold marks.