Lot 246
Letter by Hebron Rabbis, 1916 – About the Famine During World War I
Letter signed by six of the rabbis and community heads of Hebron which they sent to the Vaad HaKlali in Jerusalem. In the letter they relate the troubles of the "Horrible hunger with all its terrible manifestations" and the yoke they bear of burying the many dead of Hebron, Be'er Sheva and the surrounding areas. This letter was written in the midst of World War I which caused many deaths in the Jewish settlements in Eretz Israel. More people died from hunger than were killed in battle.
Signed by Sephardic and Ashkenazi rabbis: “Saliman Menachem Mani”, “Rabbi Chanoch Chasson”, “Meir Shmuel Kashtil”, "Eliezer Klonsky", "Ya'akov Chaim Slonim" and Rabbi "Ya'akov Yosef Slonim". Stamps of the rabbis and Kollels.
Rabbi Saliman Menachem Mani (1850-1924) was born in Baghdad to Rabbi Eliyahu Mani. Son-in-law of Rabbi Moshe Firrera. Member of the Beit Din of the Sdeh Chemed and his successor as chief rabbi of Hebron.
Rabbi Meir Shmuel Kashtil was born in Hebron in 1860. Member of the Beit Din of the Sdeh Chemed, murdered in the 1929 Palestine riots. Rabbi Rabbino Chanoch Chasson was born in 1867 and murdered in the 1929 Palestine riots. Rabbi Eliezer Klonsky and Rabbi Ya'akov Chaim Slonim were important community leaders of the Hebron Chabad community and Rabbi Ya'akov Yosef Slonim (1880-Tishrei 1937), was the rabbi of the Ashkenazi community in Hebron and founder of the Torat Emet Yeshiva in Hebron. From 1916-1929, he served as rabbi of the city. In 1929, he moved to Jerusalem, after the pogroms that claimed the lives of his wife and most of his family.
Leaf 29 cm. Good condition, folding marks.
