Independence Haggadah. Published by IDF / Human Resources - Information branch, 1952. Hebrew.
This Haggadah, telling the story of the War of Independence and the establishment of the State of Israel, was written by author Aharon Megged while on reserve-duty service at the chief education and culture officer headquarters, on the initiative of then-Minister of Education Ben-Zion Dinur. Ten thousand copies were printed, intended for soldiers to read on the eve of Independence Day. According to existing sources, the religious units and the military rabbinate objected, and the Haggadahs were destroyed. Yet the current copy contains handwritten notes attesting that the Haggadah was indeed read by a regional brigade, with the participation of the brigade commander.
[20] leaves, 20 cm. Good condition. Tears to spine. Cover partly detached, with tears. Sticker in the corner of front cover.

Collection of documents from the estate of Ya'akov Schreiboim, related to the transport of Yemenite Jews to Israel known as "Operation Magic Carpet" ("On the Wings of Eagles"), and the planning and production of this operation. Yemen, 1949.
Ya'akov Schreiboim (1913-1991), born in Warsaw, immigrated to Palestine in 1934 and was sent to study in the Gur Chassidic Yeshiva "Sefat Emet" in Jerusalem. In 1946 he was sent by the Jewish Agency to Africa to serve as Rabbi of the Etzel and Lehi detainees and take care of their religious needs, and in 1947 - served as rabbi in Cyprus detention camps (until 1949). In 1949 Schreiboim was sent by the Minister of Interior to Yemen, to try and rescue the Jews who were there and transport them to Israel. After arrival in Yemen he met with the British Governor in Aden and revealed, to his surprise, that 50,000 Jews lived in Yemen (this number was unknown to the Israeli authorities). Schreiboim persuaded the Israeli authorities to accept the Yemenite Jews which led, in the end, to operation "Magic Carpet" through which 48,500 Jews arrived in Israel.
Collection includes :
* 23 letters handed or sent to Ya'akov Schreiboim; some letters addressed to him and some others - through him - to the institutes of the young State of Israel and its leaders. In the letters, written in a rich, poetic, language, Jews of Yemen tell about their state and their wish to immigrate to Israel. Many of the letters were written in response to letters which Schreiboim wrote to Jews in villages throughout Yemen. The letters were written between May-June 1949 and were sent from the villages of Ludar, Rada'a, Bicha, Muda’aya, Asla, Kam’a, and some other villages. Among the letters - a letter from “Agudat Shocharei Geula” in Aden, with the Union’s ink-stamp; letter from rabbi Yosef Shalom Korah of Sana’a; and a handwritten list of Jewish families in Bicha, Amtafa (Um-Dafa), Amsuma’a (Um-Suma’a), Na’em and Umsbaj. * Three reports, (memorandums) typewritten, sent by Rabbi Ya’akov Schreiboim to the Aliya Department of the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem, from Aden, Yemen, during the months of May-July 1949 (As well as an “addition” to one of the memorandums). In the memorandums Schreiboim described the state of Yemenite Jews, the actions in “Ge’ula” camp, the urgency to leave Yemen, and supplies much information necessary to assist in the transport of Yemenite Jews to Israel.
Enclosed is a booklet titled “Shoshanat Ya’akov - Life Story of Shoshana and Ya’akov Schreiboim” (published by the Schreiboim family in 2005).
Size and condition vary.

A secret report, concerning the "Unfortunate Affair ("Lavon Affair"). Two thick volumes containing reports and documents by David Ben-Gurion, journalist Haggai Eshed, and others, outlining and analyzing the affair and its aftermath. Photocopied edition. [October 1964].
The two volumes were printed in a very small number of copies, classified "Top Secret", and given to Government members and to security officials. The copy offered here is number 2 and was presented to Minister of Justice Dov Yosef.
The "Unfortunate Affair" is a title given to the operation and exposure of a secret cell that operated in Egypt in the early 1950s with the aim of influencing the relationships of Egypt with the United States and Britain. The cell acted on behalf of Unit 131 of IDF, and was trained and operated by the Israeli Intelligence. In 1954 the unit executed some sabotage acts in Western facilities in Egypt (the operations were supposed to seem as if executed by a nationalist Egyptian underground force). One of the operations was to place bombs in American Embassy libraries in Cairo and in a branch of the Library of Congress in Cairo.Members of the cell were captured and convicted in Egypt.
The military censor in Israel prevented publication of the affair and for many years it was referred to only by code-names and hints. The affair led to the appointment of various investigation committees and long and complex legal discussions, the main issue being: who issued the order for the operation in Egypt?. Minister of Defense at the time, Pinhas Lavon, resigned after a committee appointed by the Prime Minister did not reach a definite decision that it was not Lavon who gave the order. David Ben-Gurion was appointed to replace Lavon as Defense Minister, and later as Prime Minister. The "Unfortunate Affair" remained on the agenda and led to a political turmoil. Ben-Gurion appointed investigation committees, and asked journalist Haggai Eshed to compose a report about the affair. In 1960 the "Committe of Seven" - seven ministers, stated that Lavon did not give the order to execute the operation in Egypt, and that he did not know about it. Ben-Gurion rejected the conclusions of the committee and requested that a legal committee be appointed. Dov Yosef was a loyal supporter of Ben-Gurion regarding the affair and agreed with him that a Legal committee and not a ministers' committee has to decide "who gave the order". The events related to the affair and the investigations were among the central factors that led Ben-Gurion to resign from the government in 1963.
The two volumes of the report include:
* Ben-Gurion’s address the Minister of Justice Dov Yosef and the attorney general demanding an appointment of an investigation committee that will examine the “committee of seven” and its conclusions.
* Legal analysis of material related to the affair and to the “committee of seven”, done by lawyer Aharon Hoter-Yishai (head of the military legal service and the first military advocate general) and Yitzchak Tunik (later appointed as the third State Comptroller).
* “Who gave the order” - first draft of report about the Lavon Affair by Haggai Eshed [fifteen years later the report was published in a book by Eshed].
Enclosed:
Collection of letters and documents (some are handwritten) from the estate of Minister of Justice Dov Yosef concerning the affair and the investigation committee.
Two thick volumes (hundreds of pages), 33 cm + about 20 documents (tens of leaves). Overall good condition.

Destruccio Iherosolime [Destruction of Jerusalem], double incunabula leaf (no. LXIIII) from Hartmann Schedel's famed “Schedelsche Weltchronik” (also known as “Liber Chronicarum” or "Nuremberg Chronicle"). [Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 1493].
Decorative hand-colored incunabula double-leaf woodcut depicting the destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple, by Nabuzaradan, Nebuchadnezzar King of Babel's army commander, in the year 586 BCE.
According to Laor, this is only the second view of Jerusalem ever printed (Laor 1125).
40X54.5cm. Fair-good condition. Creases and stains. Framed and matted. Frame: 52X66cm.

Theatrum Terrae Sanctae et Biblicarum Historiarum cum tabulis geographicis aere expressis, Christiaan van Adrichom. Cologne, 1593. Latin.
Christian van Adrichem (1533-1585) - Catholic priest, born in Delft (Holland), wrote a number of works on Palestine. This book is a comprehensive description of the Holy Land, including ten engraved maps showing the territories of the Tribes of Israel, and two large maps (folded) - one of Palestine and the other of Jerusalem.
[12], 286, [29] pp + [12] maps, 38.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Loose or detached leaves. Some tears to leaf margins. Stains. Signature on title page. All the maps are detached. Most are stained. Worming to one map. The maps may have been taken from another copy of the book. Original vellum binding, almost completely detached.