Collection of Hebrew documents, from the archive of Stockholm rabbis – legal documents on parchment, a letter and a certificate. Stockholm, ca. 1850-1880s:
· Two Ketubot. Scribal script on parchment, with witnesses' signatures. One Ketubah contains corrections and deletions (to serve as draft for a different Ketubah). Stockholm, 1852-1858.
· Four divorce documents, scribal script on parchment with witnesses' signatures. Stockholm, 1867, 1871, 1877, 1880. Each document bears a Beit Din tear (special tear, realized in a specific way, confirming the document was transmitted from the man to the woman).
· Letter from Yaakov Bressler, to R. Yehuda Leib Lewysohn, Rabbi of Stockholm. Polotsk (Poland), Nissan 1867. Regarding the agunah from Polotsk, whose husband fled to Sweden (see more about this agunah in other letters which appeared in Kedem Auction 8, February 2010, item 522).
· "Moreinu" certificate, accorded to the community leader R. Avraham son of R. Eliyahu Palentine, on the occasion of his seventieth birthday. Signed by the rabbis of the city: R. "Yehuda Leib Lewysohn, formerly rabbi in Stockholm", "Gad [Gottlieb] Klein Rabbi in Stockholm". Stockholm, Chanukah [1883]. Within color ornamented border, hand painted. Tear and damage.
[R. Gottlieb Klein, arrived in Stockholm from Hungary ca. 1882].
6 parchment items and 2 paper items. Varying condition and size.

Collection of official documents bearing signatures of Hungarian rabbis – R. Akiva Fischer Rabbi of Tét, R. Binyamin Wolf Breuer Rabbi of Tab and author of Nachalat Binyamin, R. Meir Abeles Rabbi of Kittsee and R. Yaakov Shalom Freyer Rabbi of Győr. [Hungary, mid-19th century].
17 German documents (handwritten). Signatures in Latin characters and Hebrew stamps.
· Certificate of poverty for Michael Apfel, with the signature of R. Akiva Fisher in German (his foreign name): "Jacob Fischer", alongside his wax-seal and the wax-seal of the Tét community: "Kehal Adat Yeshurun Community of Tét". More signatures and stamp. [Tét], 1857.
R. Akiva Fischer (ca. 1818-1894, HaChatam Sofer V'Talmidav pp. 396-398), close disciple of the Chatam Sofer, served as rabbi of Tét from 1848 until his death. Author of Ateret Akiva (Bnei Brak 2003-2005).
· Two certificates with signatures of R. Binyamin Wolf Breuer in German (his foreign name): "Wilhelm Breuer", alongside his wax-seal. Ragendorf (Rajka), 1857-1862.
R. Binyamin Wolf Breuer (ca. 1830-1892, HaChatam Sofer V'Talmidav p. 484), disciple of the Ktav Sofer and the Shoel U'Meshiv. From ca. 1857 he served as rabbi of Rajka and from ca. 1871 as rabbi of Tab. Author of Responsa Nachalat Binyamin (Paks 1889).
· Four official documents signed by R. "Mayer Abelis" in German, alongside his wax-seals in Hebrew (on two of the documents: "Meir Abelis Rabbi of Kittsee and its region", and on two: "Stamp of the Rabbi of Kittsee"). One document bears the wax-seal of the Kittsee community. More signatures and stamps. [Kittsee], 1850-1867.
R. Meir Abelis (1806-1887, HaChatam Sofer V'Talmidav pp. 294-296) was a cherished disciple of the Chatam Sofer and rabbi of Kittsee for about 40 years.
· Eight official documents (mostly birth certificates) with signatures of R. Yaakov Shalom Freyer in German (J. S. Freyer), alongside his wax-seals in Hebrew: "Yaakov Shalom Freyer Rabbi of Raab and its region". [Győr and Sziget], 1855-1856.
R. Yaakov Shalom Freyer (in some historical sources he is called Yaakov Shlomo or Shlomo Yaakov), rabbi of Raab (Győr) from 1839-1860. Some of his teachings are cited in the book Mei HaShiloach by R. Meir Tzipser Rabbi of Székesfehérvár (Ofen 1853).
[17] leaves. 28-34 cm. Good condition. Few stains, tears and creases. Folding marks.

Two "Immigrant Certificate" booklets, filled in by hand and stamped by the "Palestine Office" in Constantinople. [1924].
One certificate belongs to the holy Kabbalist R. Shlomo Elyashov (author of the Leshem), and the second one is for his daughter Chaya and son-in-law R. Avraham Elyashov (who during the course of their escape from Russia and immigration to Eretz Israel, adopted the fictitious name "David Popko"), together with their son Yosef Shalom. This certificate contains a photograph of R. Yosef Shalom Elyashiv's parents, together with their only son the young Yosef Shalom, who was then 13 and a half years old (this is the only copy in the world of this original photograph, showing R. Yosef Shalom Elyashiv together with his parents. The photograph was taken in Constantinople for this passport, and there are no other known copies of it).
Certificates resembling legal passports, which served as travel documents and identity cards. Bearing medical stamps, and other details. The details filled in by hand in these certificates disclose facts about the immigration to Eretz Israel of the Leshem together with his daughter's family: R. Shlomo Elyashov at the time of their immigration was 82 years old (born in Žagarė in 1842 according to this certificate), his son-in-law R. Avraham was (apparently) 51 years old. His daughter Chaya was 48, and their son Yosef Shalom 13. The name of R. Shlomo Elyashov's acquaintance in Eretz Israel was R. Kook – "His acquaintance, R. Kook, Jerusalem", and their immigration was supposedly upon the request of R. Kook. They registered for immigration on March 2, 1924 and left Constantinople on a boat headed for Jaffa on March 6, 1924. In R. Shlomo Elyashov's certificate, the photograph is lacking (it was removed many years ago, together with some of the paper, presumably for publicizing the photograph).
The holy Kabbalist R. Shlomo Elyashiv (Elyashov, Elyashoff), author of the Leshem (1841-1926) was a leading Lithuanian Kabbalist. His notes on Etz Chaim were printed in the Warsaw 1891 edition under the title Hagahot HaRav SheVaCh (Shlomo ben Chaim Chaikel), appellation the Sephardi rabbis were fond of calling him by. His series of books on Kabbalah named Leshem Shevo V'Achlama were published in 1909-1948, and are considered fundamental works on the study of Kabbalah. He was received in Jerusalem with great honor by the leading Sephardi and Ashkenazi Kabbalists, especially R. Shaul Dweck, dean of the Rechovot HaNahar yeshiva who had exchanged correspondence with him all the years, and the Chief Rabbi R. Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, his disciple in Kabbalah already during the time the Leshem lived in Šiauliai.
R. Avraham Elyashov (Elyashiv; 1878-1943), the rabbi from Homel (Gomel), was the son of R. Moshe Levinson from Oran (Varėna). He was later compelled to change his surname to Popka (Popko; Popkin), (he presumably utilized the fictitious passport of a Jew named "David son of Yehuda Simcha Popkin", and when matters complicated with the authorities, he also changed his private name to "[Avraham] David son of Yehuda Simcha"). Following his immigration to Eretz Israel, he changed his surname to that of his father-in-law, R. Shlomo Elyashov.
His only son R. Yosef Shalom Elyashiv was a leading halachic authority in our generation. A dayan in the Jerusalem Beit Din, he served for close to seventy years as rabbi and lecturer in the Tiferet Bachurim community in Jerusalem, in place of his father R. Avraham from Homel, founder of Tiferet Bachurim.
Two booklets, approx. 15.5 cm. Overall good condition. Stains and light wear. Some scribbles (in pencil and ink). In one certificate, open tear in place of the photograph. Original, light blueish card cover with the printed inscription "Te'udat Aliya" in the center of a Magen David emblem.

Large handwritten leaf, a copying of the regulations limiting the number of Shochtim (ritual slaughterers) in Constantinople, from the years 1687 and 1696, with the signatures of R. Refael Avraham Hayun (emissary of Jerusalem and Hebron) and R. David HaKohen. [Constantinople, between 1770 and 1800].
Sephardic scribal script. A regulation from 1687, limiting the number of Shochtim in Constantinople to 11, was copied at the top of the page, with the copied signatures of the rabbis of the town (R. Matitya ibn Arviyo, R. Shmuel Ikshino, R. Chaim Egozi and R. Yosef Kassavi).
Another regulation, from 1696, was copied thereafter, strengthening the previous regulation and threatening anyone who breaches it, with the copied signatures of the rabbis of the town (R. Avraham Rosanes, Eliya Alfandari, Eliezer ibn Shangi, Shmuel Rosanes and Yehuda Refael Kimchi).
A copying of the confirmation appears next, testifying that "this document was copied from the original verbatim…", with the copied signatures of R. Menachem HaLevi and R. Yehuda Sivilio, followed by an additional passage confirming that this is an accurate copying of the copying. Two (calligraphic) autographic signatures appear at the end of the last section, of "the young David HaKohen" and "the young Refael Avraham Hayun".
The second signee is possibly R. Avraham Hayun, a scholar from Eretz Israel, who travelled around Turkey as emissary of Jerusalem and Hebron in 1790 and 1800 (and then passed away in Izmir), he published the books Shalmei Tzibur and Shalmei Chagiga by R. Yaakov Yisrael Algazi, with his own additions and notes (see: Yaari, Shluchei Eretz Israel, pp. 558-559 and 604).
Large leaf (folded), 39.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Wear to the margins. Folding marks. A few tears at the folds.