Lot 243
Letter of Badatz Hechsher for Eretz Israel Etrogim – Jerusalem, 1878
Letter of hechsher for Eretz Israeli etrogim, picked by Rabbi Shmuel Moni, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Baharan Levi and Rabbi Yo'el Moshe Salomon from the Badatz of the Ashkenazi Pharisees community in Jerusalem. Jerusalem, Iyar 1878.
In the letter are details of the origins of the etrogim which are known not to be mixed with other species (which would make them unfit to use for arba minim): Umm al-Fahm, Alma el Shaab, Kfar Chittim and the orchard adjacent to Tiberias. "All these orchards are known to be very kosher, generation after generation according to the tradition of the rabbis from early generations". Further in the letter, is the testimony of the rabbis who explain the reason the etrogim have no pitomim (prominent tips) - from the time they were grown and created, even the small etrogim, do not have pitomim, only a mark, as brought in Magen Avraham Siman 648.
Signed by dayanim of the Beit Din: Rabbi "Binyamin ben Shmuel who used to by Av Beit Din of Stowbtsy " [1810-1893, author of She'erit Binyamin, Av Beit Din of Rajgród and Stowbtsy, ascended to Jerusalem in 1872], Rabbi "Yehoshua Bezalel ben the Maharik, Av Beit Din of Malech" [Rabbi Yehoshua Bezalel Kanterowitz (1825-1885), the Vilna Gaon's grandson, Av Beit Din of Malech and Bialistok, ascended to Jerusalem in 1871 and was immediately appointed Ra'avad and head of the Etz Chaim Yeshiva. Author of Ohel Yehoshua and Mishkan Bezalel], and Rabbi "Ya'akov ben Moshe" [of Izabelin, Av Beit Din of Motol, served as Ra'avad abroad from 38 years and 12 years in Jerusalem. Died in 1887].
27 cm. Good condition, minor tears to margins.
