Twenty-two letters and three poems, sent by Indian Poet Rabindranath Tagore to the Palestinian traveler Shlomit Frida Flaum. Santiniketan (India) and elsewhere, early 1920s to early 1940s. English (a few items in Bengali).
Shlomit Frieda Flaum, who is considered the first Jewish woman traveler, was born in 1893 in Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania, a descendant of Rabbi Shlomo Luria. In 1911, she immigrated to Palestine by herself and for ten years wandered between its various cities, documenting them in her diaries and sketching their sights. In 1921, she decided she wanted to explore overseas countries as well and travelled to the USA. In New York she met the poet Rabindranath Tagore for the first time. After their meeting, she wrote in her diary: "From now on we shall not walk blindly". Tagore showed much interest in Flaum's story, her Jewish nationality and Zionist views, and invited her to visit the Ashram he founded in western Bengal, Santiniketan. A year later, Flaum arrived at Santiniketan, extending her stay for two years. During this period, the most important and influential of her life, Flaum became Tagore's closest student and a strong friendship developed between the two, a friendship that continued until Tagore's death.
Offered is a collection of handwritten and typewritten letters, which Tagore had sent Flaum over the course of about twenty years. In the letters, Tagore refers to Shlomit as "Shanti" (a word that in Hindi means "peace", chosen as an approximate translation of the Hebrew name "Shlomit") and they reflect Tagore's spiritual world, the changes that occurred in the world during this period and his great rapport with Flaum.
The early letters in the collection are mostly handwritten and they often address the time Flaum had stayed in Tagore's Ashram, Santiniketan. In a letter from October 1923, Tagore writes: I have great affection for you and we are all so thankful for your generous contribution […] I doubt very much if your place here will ever be adequately filled". In another letter from the same year, he writes: "You have brought love to the shrine of our ideal […] brought it from across the sea, across difference of race and culture, keeping it fresh and sweet". In other letters from this period, Tagore shows much interest in Palestine and Zionism, thanks Flaum for the books she had sent him on these subjects and even expresses his intention to visit Palestine: "I wish my hurry to the South America engagement had not prevented me from visiting Palestine and forming my association with those of you who are struggling for a great chance" (1925).
The later letters in the collection are mostly typewritten and often address the situation in the world, the war ahead, and Tagore's old age. In a letter from 1938, Tagore writes: "If you have not received any reply to your last letter, blame my age or my Secretary but you have to spare me. Nor should you forget that my poor pen has claims to some rest after its so very faithful service extending over nearly three fourths of an entire century". In an interesting letter from 1936, Tagore addresses the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine at length: "It has pained me very deeply to read of the bloody conflicts between the Jews and the Arabs in Palestine. Of course, I was somewhat prepared for it […] we who know of the communal troubles in India, can easily picture the situation – the utter cruelty and senselessness of such mad inter-racial conflicts. And yet where is the way out? Don’t you feel this postwar world of ours is still more gross and brutal than it used to be? We almost seem to be going back to the medieval ages when greatest atrocities were daily being committed in the name of religion and civilization. I despair the future". In one of the last letters in the collection, written after the outbreak of World War II, Tagore writes: "Thank you for your good wishes for the new year. Today we all have one common wish, that this tortured world may be soon reclaimed from the fever of insanity in which it is caught. I tremble to think of the future if the year 1940 ends as it has begun, with slaughter on every side, with history being made in terms only of outrage and violence. It is good to know that Palestine is quieter and that you all are doing well. Give my best wishes to Prof. Einstein and Prof. Geiger, if they are still there".
A number of the letters are written on Tagore's official stationery, with a paper label of his initials mounted on some.
Alongside the letters, the collection includes three handwritten poems (possibly enclosed with the letters or given to Flaum as souvenirs): poem no. 70 from the Fruit-Gathering cycle, with Tagore's handwritten signature; a long two-part poem, handwritten and signed by Tagore (this poem appeared in a letter Tagore had sent the Mahatma Gandhi in 1919, dealing with pacifism); and a long poem (three pages) in Bengali.
Enclosed: a telegram Tagore had sent Flaum in 1928; six letters sent to Flaum by Tagore's son and his wife, Rathindranath and Pratima Tagore; one letter by Tagore's personal secretary (announcing that Tagore fell ill and almost died during the night); five envelopes in which the letters were sent.
Size and condition vary. Good overall condition.
The poet Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was born in Calcutta to one of the most influential families in Bengal. His father, Debendranath Tagore, a philosopher and religious leader of the Brahmin caste (the priest caste, constituting the upper class of Indian society), spent most his time travelling and away from his children. Tagore and his brothers were raised mostly by servants, absorbing extensive western cultural influences as well as traditional ones (most of the brothers eventually became writers, poets and intellectuals). At the age of 17, Tagore was sent to England to study law and after returning to his country, started publishing poems, plays and stories. His works had a profound impact within his own country; however, he remained unknown around the world until his first book, Gitanjali (Song Offerings), was translated into English. The 103 poems in Gitanjali, all of them translated by Tagore himself, introduced Tagore's work to the West and had a great impact on the literary world. In the introduction he wrote to Gitanjali, poet William Butler Yeats (a Nobel Prize laureate himself) wrote: "These lyrics – which are in the original, my Indians tell me, full of subtlety of rhythm, of untranslatable delicacies of colour, of metrical invention, display in their thought a world I have dreamed of all my live long". Following the publishing of the book, Tagore was awarded in 1913 the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Alongside his literary work, Tagore was known for his social-political activity, and especially for his contribution to the Indian Independence Movement, the title of its leader – Mahatma (Great Soul) – being coined by him. After India won its independence, his poem "Jana Gana Mana" was chosen as its official national anthem. Less known were his sympathy for the Zionist Movement, which Tagore believed was "one of the bases of worldwide peace and justice", and his respect for the Jewish People, which he believed were meant to bridge East and West.
The relationship between Tagore and Flaum was documented in two books authored by Flaum: "Wandering Daughter of Israel" (Hebrew. Jerusalem, 1935) and "Rabindranath Tagore" (Hebrew. Jerusalem, 1946). Some of the present letters were translated by Flaum and published in the books while some, presumably, have never been published.
Provenance: The Uzi Agassi Collection.

Three translations, handwritten by Rachel Bluwstein, of poems by Alexander Pushkin, Anna Akhmatova and Jessie (Yesha) Sampter. [Palestine, ca. 1910s or 1920s].
During her short life, Rachel translated a small number of poems by her favorite poets. These poems, twenty-six all in all, were mostly published after her death, and indicate her literary influences, cultural roots and personal taste. Offered here are three translations handwritten by her: two translations of poems by classic Russian poets and a translation of a poem by a less known poet – Jessie Sampter, who was Rachel's neighbor in Jerusalem and whom she personally knew. The poems:
1. "Do Not Sing to Me, Fair Maiden" (Непой, красавица, примне), a translation of a poem by Alexander Pushkin, dedicated to one of his loves – Anna Olenina (Pushkin wrote this poem in 1828, after hearing Olenina improvising on the piano). Rachel's translation was published in the "Davar" newspaper in 1939; it was later composed by Jaroslav Jakubovič and appeared in Anat Atzmon's album "Laila, Kar VeDmut Alma".
2. "Where, Tall Lady, is your Gypsy Child" (Где, высокая, твой цыганенок…), a translation of a poem by Anna Akhmatova. Originally written in 1914.
One word in the first line is crossed out and corrected.
3. "City in the Heavens", translation of an English poem by Jessie (Yesha) Sampter. An interesting handwritten inscription appears in the upper margin: alongside the poet's name appear three erased names: "Yesha?"; "Jessie"; and "Yesha Samter". This translation also appeared in a letter sent by Rachel when she lived in Jerusalem (during the years 1924-1925) and was presumably written then (see Kedem auction no. 64, item 259).
Rachel Bluwstein Sela (Rachel Ha'meshoreret, 1890-1931), born in the Russian Empire, was one of the leading poets in Modern Hebrew poetry. In 1909, she visited Palestine, was enchanted by the life of the settlements and decided to settle in Rechovot. The house where she lived with her two sisters came to be known as "the three sisters' tower". In 1911, Rachel joined the women's agricultural training program "Havat HaAlamot" on the shores of the Kinneret. At that time she met some of the figures that are most identified with the Second Aliyah: Aharon David Gordon, Berl Katznelson, Zalman Shazar (to whom she dedicated some of her poems) and others. In time she recalled that this was the best time of her life.
In 1914, while visiting her family in Russia, World War I broke out and she was forced to wait until it ended before returning to Palestine. When she finally reached Palestine on the SS Ruslan, she showed the first signs of tuberculosis. At first, she was permitted to live in Kevutzat Deganyah; however, after her health deteriorated, she was asked to leave (the announcement, as she recalled, being: "You are ill and we are healthy. Therefore, you must leave"). In her final years, she moved from city to city in Palestine and finally, giving up her hopes of recovery, moved to a small attic in Tel Aviv, in a house close to the sea, earning a meager living by publishing poems in newspapers. She wrote most of her poems during this time.
After her death, Rachel became one of the most well-known and loved Hebrew poets; many of her poems were composed and recorded and many streets in Israel were named after her.
Three leaves (one written page on every leaf). Size and condition vary. Good-fair overall condition. Horizontal fold lines. Stains and minor creases. Closed and open tears to edges of two leaves (small, not affecting the text).

A letter handwritten and signed by Sigmund Freud, to his friend and patient, the philanthropist Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein, who was of Jewish descent. Sent several weeks after his arrival in England, several months after the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany. London, June 21, 1938. German.
Sigmund Freud was one of the most slandered thinkers in Nazi Germany, and by 1933 his books were publicly burned. Several days after the annexation of Austria in 1938, Freud's house was looted and his daughter Anna was arrested by the Gestapo. Fortunately, Anton Sauerwald, a senior Nazi officer in charge of Jewish property in Austria, was a big fan of his writings, and helped him and his family escape from Austria. On June 4, 1938, Freud, his wife Martha and his daughter Anna crossed the border to France, proceeding to England where they were greeted with open arms.
The letter is written on official stationery with Freud's new address in London, 39 Elsworthy St., and documents his first days in the city.
The letter starts with a reference to a souvenir presumably given to Freud by Stonborough-Wittgenstein before he left – a new amulet to his collection of antiques: " The amulet has so far proven its worth. The journey was easy, the reception in England was flatteringly pleasant, the weather is surprisingly nice and the house my architect son has chosen for us as a temporary home is comfortable" (Freud was an avid collector of antiques from the Ancient East and from Asia, and before escaping from Vienna took care of transferring the collection to England; an important part of the collection was dedicated to amulets). Later, Freud addresses the personal tragedy the befell Stonborough-Wittgenstein shortly before the writing of the letter – the suicide of her ex-husband. Freud writes with a note of sympathy and concern, and even offers her a short "diagnosis": "It was long on my mind to write to you […] the black-margined letter [obituary] made me act on my intention. Nothing you ever said prepared me for this. I am thinking about melancholy […] I can well imagine in what painful and conflicted mental state the event placed you. Are your circumstances now going to change? Will you remain in Vienna? I would like to ask you much more".
Although throughout the letter Freud avoided explicitly mentioning the situation in Vienna, in one of the lines there is an implicit, venomous and humorous reference to the change that occurred in his country: " The garden and the view in Primrose Hill Park are an ample replacement for Grinzing, where Gauleiter Bürckel would have now become the next-door neighbor" (Freud used to spend his summer vacations in Grinzing, the pastoral suburb of Vienna, alongside many other contemporary German intellectuals; after the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany, the new governor and the person in charge of carrying out the Anschluss, Josef Bürckel, moved to live in Grinzing). ?The letter ends with the words: "I hope to hear from you soon, with my deepest sympathy, Freud".
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the founder of psychoanalysis, one of the leading intellectuals and most influential figures of the 20th century. At the age of 17 he was accepted to study medicine at the Vienna University and in the following years published several medical studies in different fields. In 1895, he co-published with his teacher Josef Breuer the book "Studies on Hysteria", in which he described for the first time a method of therapy by means of conversation with the patient, with the patient relating his distress while lying on a couch. Following this book, Freud published a series of groundbreaking studies about humankind's mental life: "Totem and Taboo", "The Interpretation of Dreams", "Beyond the Pleasure Principle" and many other works, which revolutionized the western perception of mind. Freud died in September 1939 after a prolonged struggle with cancer. Due to the intense pain the illness caused him, he asked his personal physician to put an end to his misery, receiving a large dose of Morphine and dying shortly afterwards.
The addressee of this letter, Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein (1882-1958) was the sister of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein and the pianist Paul Wittgenstein. In 1905, she married the art collector Gerome Stonborough. She was the subject of portrait painted for her wedding by the artist Gustav Klimt.
After World War I, Stonborough-Wittgenstein was appointed the special representative of the American Relief Program for Austria and served as an advisor in youth institutions. In this capacity she met Freud for the first time. She was analyzed by him over the course of two years and they remained in contact until Freud's death. Her marriage to her husband ended with divorce in 1938. A short time later, only six days before Freud sent this letter, her ex-husband committed suicide.
[1] leaf (two written pages), 23.5 cm. Good condition. Horizontal fold line. Some stains and blemishes, mostly to margins.