Auction 98 Early Printed Books, Chassidut and Kabbalah, Books Printed in Jerusalem, Letters and Manuscripts, Jewish Ceremonial Art
- (-) Remove document filter document
- letter (12) Apply letter filter
- "she'erit (6) Apply "she'erit filter
- eretz (6) Apply eretz filter
- erit (6) Apply erit filter
- hapletah (6) Apply hapletah filter
- hapletah" (6) Apply hapletah" filter
- holocaust (6) Apply holocaust filter
- israel (6) Apply israel filter
- jaffa (6) Apply jaffa filter
- jerusalem (6) Apply jerusalem filter
- jerusalem, (6) Apply jerusalem, filter
- safe (6) Apply safe filter
- safed, (6) Apply safed, filter
- she (6) Apply she filter
- sheerit (6) Apply sheerit filter
- tiberia (6) Apply tiberia filter
Large collection of sixty letters, handwritten and signed by heads of the community in Tiberias, rabbis and officials of Ashkenazi kollels in the city. Tiberias, 1880s-1890s.
The letters were sent to the Pekidim and Amarkalim organization in Amsterdam, which was responsible for raising funds from the diaspora for the Old Yishuv in Eretz Israel. The collection contains letters handwritten, signed and stamped by community leaders, rabbis and kollel officials in Tiberias, with accounts of allocation and transfer of funds, public affairs and various controversies, as well as private letters of dayanim, Torah scholars and others in Tiberias, describing their harsh financial conditions and requesting financial aid and assistance; some include letters of recommendation from rabbis and kollel officials in Tiberias, and some bear official stamps.
See Hebrew description for a list of authors of letters included in the collection.
60 letters. Size and condition vary. Overall good condition.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
Large collection of over thirty letters, handwritten and signed by heads of the community in Safed, rabbis and officials of Ashkenazi kollels in the city. Safed, 1880s-1890s. Hebrew and some Yiddish.
The letters were sent to the Pekidim and Amarkalim organization in Amsterdam, which was responsible for raising funds from the diaspora for the Old Yishuv in Eretz Israel. The collection contains private letters of dayanim, Torah scholars and others in Safed, describing their harsh financial conditions and requesting financial aid and assistance; some include letters of recommendation from rabbis and kollel officials in Safed, and some bear official stamps.
See Hebrew description for a list of authors of letters included in the collection.
33 letters, including over 30 signed letters. Size and condition vary. Overall good condition.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
Large collection of over forty letters and documents sent by people of Jerusalem to rabbis, donors and philanthropists abroad, regarding financial assistance. Some sent to the Pekidim and Amarkalim organization in Amsterdam, which was responsible for raising funds from the diaspora for the Old Yishuv in Eretz Israel. Jerusalem, Amsterdam and various places, ca. 1880s-1920s. Hebrew, Yiddish and German.
See Hebrew description for a list of letters.
The collection also includes three printed receipts (filled in by hand) from the Pekidim and Amarkalim in Amsterdam, sent to rabbis and kollel officials in Jerusalem (Amsterdam, 1883-1893).
Total of over 40 letters and documents, including about 33 on postmarked postcards. Size and condition vary.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
Assorted collection of manuscripts, letters and documents, from the archive of R. Yosef Tzvi Geiger and his grandfather R. Moshe Charag (Zeiger). Torah novellae, contracts and letters on public affairs, halachic rulings and responsa, and more. Safed and elsewhere, ca. 1870s-1930s.
See Hebrew description for a list of items in the collection.
11 items, comprising about 15 leaves. Size and condition vary. Overall good condition. Some with stamps of estate of R. "Yosef Tzvi Geiger" (with a likeness of his signature).
R. Moshe Charag Zeiger (1816-1909), public figure and prominent member of the Safed Chassidic community. Son-in-law of R. Gavriel Tshak (hence the name Charag – Chatan R. Gavriel) and confidant of Rebbe Mendele, the Tzemach Tzaddik of Vizhnitz, at whose behest he established the Vizhnitz Kollel in Safed and Tiberias. One of his grandsons was the artist Yosef Tzvi Geiger, known as the father of Safed art.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
A diverse collection of over twenty letters and certificates hand-signed and stamped by the rabbis and public figures of Jaffa. Jaffa, ca. 1900-1941.
Among those signing the certificates and letters in the present lot: R. Yosef Zvi HaLevi, rabbi of Jaffa, R. Shlomo HaCohen Aharonson, the first rabbi of Tel Aviv, R. Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel, who then served as Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv-Jaffa (later the "Rishon LeZion" and Chief Rabbi of Israel), R. Yehuda Leib Gurion, R. Aharon HaCohen (son-in-law of the "Chafetz Chaim"), R. Yisrael Isser Shapira head of the "Sha'arei Torah" yeshiva, Rabbi Shlomo Rohald (secretary and scribe of the Jaffa Beit Din), R. Yaakov Bechor Papula, R. Zerach Barnett, R. Shlomo Harinstein, R. Simcha Bunim Novobolski, R. Yaakov Meir Lerinman, R. Shmuel Levia, R. Gedalyahu Nachman Broder, Dr. Chaim Chissin director of the "Sha'ar Zion Hospital" in Jaffa, and others.
23 items. Size and condition vary. Overall good to good-fair condition.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
Diverse collection of over twenty letters to and from Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel, Chief Rabbi of Jaffa and Tel Aviv, later "Rishon LeZion – Chief Rabbi of Eretz Israel". Palestine and Europe, 1910s-1940s. Some on official stationery with official stamps. Many letters include draft responses and notes in R. Uziel's handwriting.
The collection includes letters from R. Uziel, and letters to R. Uziel from various rabbis, including:
• R. Haim David Suranga, Jerusalem, [1912]. • R. Shmuel Moshe Mizrahi, Jerusalem, 1912. • Hakham Bashi R. Moshe Franco. Jerusalem, 1915. • Rishon LeZion R. Yaakov Meir. Jerusalem, 1931. • R. Shlomo HaCohen Aharonson, first Ashkenazi rabbi of Jaffa and the Tel Aviv district. 1930. • R. Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman, dayan of the London Bet Din. London, 1930. • R. Yehuda Leib Nekritz, son-in-law of rabbi Avraham Yoffen, Rosh Yeshiva of the "Beit Yosef" Novardok Yeshivah. Bialystok, 1938. Two letters on official postcards. • R. Yehoshua Menachem Ehrenberg, Chief Rabbi of Cyprus – regarding an agunah in one of the Cyprus internment camps whose husband was lost in the Siege of Stalingrad. Cyprus, 1948. • R. Zev Tzvi HaCohen Klein, rabbi in Berlin – regarding kosher food supply for travelers on ships under his supervision. Berlin, 1935. • And more (for more details, please refer to Hebrew description).
Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel (1880-1953), among the leading rabbis of Eretz Israel in the early 20th century. Born in Jerusalem to a distinguished Sephardic family of Jerusalem rabbis, descendant of the author of "Chikrei Lev". At 20 he was appointed rabbi at the "Tiferet Yerushalayim" Yeshiva, and later became its director. He served as president of the "Porat Yosef" Yeshiva and established several educational institutions for Sephardic youth in Jerusalem. In 1911, he was appointed Hakham Bashi and Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic community in Jaffa. In 1921 he travelled to Thessaloniki to serve there as Chief Rabbi, returning to Jaffa in 1923 to serve as Chief Rabbi of Jaffa and Tel Aviv, alongside Rabbi Shlomo Aharonson. In 1939, he became Chief Rabbi and Rishon LeZion of Eretz Israel. His works include "Mishpetei Uziel", "Mikhmanei Uziel", "HaShofet VeHaMishpat" and more.
22 letters. Size and condition vary.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
Diverse collection of over thirty letters and certificates signed by various rabbis: recommendations, certificates, and various forms and documents. Eastern Europe and Palestine, ca. 1930s-1940s. Some on official stationery with official stamps. Some letters include draft responses, stamps, and notes by the recipient rabbis (including R. Moshe Avigdor Amiel, Rabbi of Tel Aviv).
Most letters relate to requests for immigration certificates to Palestine and recommendations for immigrants. Some were written in 1940 when Jews from occupied Europe attempted to escape the Holocaust and flee to Mandatory Palestine.
Included in the lot:
• Letter from R. Baruch Mordechai HaCohen Rappoport (grandson of the "Beit Shmuel" of Slonim) to R. Moshe Avigdor Amiel, Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv – obtaining immigration certificates for himself and his father R. Avraham Abele HaCohen Rappoport, Av Beit Din of Kielce (son-in-law of the Rebbe of Slonim, author of "Beit Shmuel"), who fled destitute to Vilna in independent Lithuania after the Nazi occupation of Poland. Vilna, Adar 1940.
• Letter from R. Yitzchak Rubinstein, rabbi of the "Mizrachi" community in Vilna. Vilna, Shevat 1940. Draft response by R. Amiel in the margin.
• Letter from R. Eliezer Liebschitz, Av Beit Din of Zduńska Wola, [1930].
• Letter of recommendation from R. Chaim Menachem Mendel HaLevi Kastenberg, Rabbi of Radom. Radom, 1933.
• Letter from R. Chaim Baruch HaCohen Gerstein, Av Beit Din of Siemiatycze – recommendation for a meat wholesaler from his town who immigrated to Eretz Israel. Siemiatycze, 1935.
• Letter of recommendation for a mohel from R. Shabtai son of R. Ozer Alpert, Av Beit Din of Polanka. Polanka, 1935.
• Letter from R. Leibush Rosenberg, chairman of the "Rabbinical Committee" in Lodz. Lodz, 1935.
• Letter of recommendation regarding kashrut from the "Council of Rabbis of Warsaw", signed by committee member R. Yitzchak Meir Kanal and secretary R. Yaakov Gesundheit. Warsaw, Cheshvan 1932.
• Letter of recommendation regarding kashrut from R. Simcha Treistman, member of the "Council of Rabbis" in Lodz. Lodz, 1935.
• Letter of recommendation regarding kashrut from R. Azriel Zelig Rosenstein, member of the "Council of Rabbis" in Lodz. Lodz, 1935.
•Three letters of recommendation from leaders of the Koźminek community (Kalisz district, Poland), 1935.
• Employment confirmation for the rabbi of "Beit HaMidrash VeHaTefillah of the Piltz Chassidim" in Częstochowa. Częstochowa, 1935.
• Employment confirmation for R. Hillel Gantzarski as rabbi in Lodz. Lodz, 1935.
• Employment confirmation for R. Moshe Binyamin Lehman as rabbi of the "Chevra Kadisha" Beit Midrash in Radomsko. Radomsko, 1935.
• Employment confirmation for R. Mordechai Tregetz as gabbai and Chazan in Kłodawa. Kłodawa, Poland, 1935.
• Certificate confirming R. Yechiel Srualov as rabbi of the "Nachalat Yaakov" synagogue in the Nachalat Shiva neighborhood in Jerusalem. Jerusalem, 1934.
• Employment contract for R. Chaim Pesachowitz as rabbi of the Beit Midrash of the "Torah VaDa'at" organization in Jerusalem. Jerusalem, 1932.
• Confirmation from R. Asher Sandomierski, director of "Or Zoreach" Yeshiva in Jaffa, that the bachur Nechemia Fishman from Lublin was accepted to the yeshiva. Tel Aviv, 1936.
• Confirmation from R. Shmuel Weingurt, member of the Chassidic Beit Din in Jerusalem, that Shlomo Friedfeldstein studied for several years in his yeshiva in Plauen, Germany. Jerusalem, Kislev 1938.
• Letter from R. Moshe Moschil Hirschhorn, shochet, chazan, and mohel in Zagórz, to Dr. Yosef Pomork of Tel Aviv concerning the obtaining of an immigration certificate to Eretz Israel. Zagórz, Galicia, 1936.
• Additional letters, approvals, and various certificates.
31 letters and documents. Size and condition vary.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
Eight letters handwritten and signed by rabbis and directors of the Beit Yosef yeshiva in Novardok during the Holocaust, addressed to R. Eliezer Bentzion Bruk, dean of the Beit Yosef Novardok yeshiva in Jerusalem. Vilna, Biržai and Eretz Israel, ca. 1940-1941.
The letters were sent after the yeshiva fled the occupation and partition of Poland by Germany and Russia to Vilna and Biržai in Lithuania which remained free.
Includes letters by yeshiva dean R. Avraham Yoffen, R. Abba Yoffe (brother of R. Avraham Yoffen), R. Yehudah Leib Nekritz (son-in-law of R. Avraham Yoffen), R. Nisan Tzelniker of Babruysk (brother-in-law of R. Bentzion Bruk and a dean of the Novardok yeshiva in Bialystok), R. Nisan Potashinsky (Rozhanker; son-in-law of R. Refael Alter Shmuelevitz and a director of the Beit Yosef Novardok yeshiva in Bialystok), R. Aharon Agulnik (Kamayer; mashgiach of Novardok yeshiva in Ostrów Mazowiecka) and R. Yaakov Zeldin (Mozirer, mashgiach of Beit Yosef yeshiva in Lutsk).
See Hebrew description for a detailed listing of each letter.
Background
At the outbreak of World War I, when Russia annexed eastern Poland, including Bialystok where the Novardok yeshiva headed by R. Avraham Yoffen was located, the yeshiva students who refused to live under the Soviet regime fled to Vilna. When the Russians invaded Lithuania, the yeshiva students again fled to Biržai while attempting to attain visas to countries that were not occupied by the Germans or the Soviets. While R. Avraham Yoffen and a limited number of students managed to attain visas to the United States, the remaining students were offered Soviet citizenship; when they refused, they were deported to labor camps in Siberia (most of those students who were not deported were later murdered by the Nazis).
8 letters (six on postcards). Size and condition vary. Overall good condition. Last letter in fair-poor condition (written on thin paper, with open tears and damage, affecting text).
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
Letter (2 pages) handwritten and signed by R. Gershon Liebman, a leader of the Novardok yeshiva movement. [Bergen-Belsen?, ca. 1945-1946].
Addressed to "my dear friend R. Hillel" [R. Hillel Witkind, dean of the Beit Yosef Novardok yeshiva in Tel Aviv]. He also mentions R. Bentzion [Bruk, dean of the Beit Yosef Novardok yeshiva in Jerusalem]. The letter also deals with transmission of information about those killed and those who survived the Holocaust, and he attempts to ascertain what happened to his wife. He also mentions the upcoming Pesach festival.
R. Gershon goes on to mention Torah learners and Novardok yeshiva students exiled in Siberia and Bukhara, and he calls for them to join the yeshiva he established [in Bergen-Belsen], in particular mentioning R. Yisrael [Movshovitz] and R. Yehudah Leib [Nekritz].
R. Gershon Liebman (1905-1997), founder and leader of the Or Yosef network of Novardok yeshivot in France, and one of the greatest Novardok musar leaders of all times. R. Gershon arranged underground musar yeshivot in the ghettos and camps throughout the Holocaust, and established a Novardok yeshiva in Bergen-Belsen immediately after the war ended. In 1948, the yeshiva moved to France, where it expanded to include over 40 Torah and educational institutions.
[1] leaf, written on both sides. 20.5x17 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains and creases. Asymmetric trimming of bottom of leaf. Filing holes.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
Long autograph letter written on both sides of a postcard, by R. Yitzchak Huberman (later renowned as the Tzaddik of Raanana), during his tenure as rabbi of the Wetzlar DP camp in Germany. Kislev [1947].
Sent to London to R. Yechezkel Abramsky at the time he served as rabbi in London, ardently requesting his halachic rulings on weighty matters pertaining to marriage and agunot among Holocaust survivors.
Postcard, 10.5X15 cm. Good condition. Stains.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
Two long letters from R. Shlomo David Kahana, "Father of the Agunot", rabbi of Warsaw and rabbi of the Old City of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, [ca. 1946].
4 leaves (including some 8 written pages) on R. Kahana's official stationery. Scribal handwriting with R. Kahana's handwritten signatures. The letters deal with matters of releasing agunot and agunim among Holocaust survivors. Both letters were sent to R. Tzvi Hirsch Meisels, Rabbi of Vác (author of Responsa "Mekadshei HaShem"), who served after the Holocaust as rabbi of the Bergen-Belsen DP camp and Chief Rabbi of the British Occupation Zone in Germany. R. Meisels was responsible on behalf of the London rabbinate for supervising and ruling on matters of marriage and agunot (see his book "Binyan Tzvi", various correspondences on these topics with R. Abramsky, Av Beit Din of London, and various rabbis worldwide).
Most of the first letter deals with Torah matters regarding the laws of agunot. On the fourth page, R. Kahana writes about the worldwide efforts to release agunot from the Holocaust. He on his work on the issue of agunot in Poland and in Palestine, and expresses his opinion that each individual case of an agunah should be judged by a Beit Din on its own merits, and it is not appropriate to delay the matter and wait for a general ruling from the great rabbis of the generation on that particular issue.
In the second letter, dated Purim 1946, R. Kahana writes on the release of agunim (whose wives disappeared in the Holocaust). He asks R. Meisels to prepare an infrastructure for investigations that will assist in releasing the many agunot and agunim among Holocaust survivors.
R. Shlomo David Kahana, "Father of the Agunot" (1869-Kislev 1954), was among the rabbis of Warsaw, son-in-law and successor of R. Shmuel Zanvil Klepfish, one of the chief rabbis in Warsaw. After World War I, he was appointed by the Chief Rabbinate of Warsaw to oversee the complex issue of agunot. In this capacity, he worked tirelessly to release from their agunah status tens of thousands of women whose husbands, as soldiers in he war, were reported as missing in action and whose fates remained unknown. With the outbreak of World War II and the many casualties in Polish cities from enemy air raids (even before the mass extermination by the Nazis), R. Kahana foresaw what was coming and began preparing for the release of war agunot.
He later managed to escape to Palestine and was appointed rabbi of the Old City of Jerusalem. During that period, he established in Jerusalem the "Office for Agunot Affairs" on behalf of the "Union of Rabbis from Poland" in Eretz Israel. Some of his many responsa were recently published in his book "Nechmat Shlomo" (published by Machon Yerushalayim, Jerusalem, 2022).
[4] leaves (some 8 written pages). Approx. 28 cm. Fair condition. Stains and wear. Folding marks. Tears along fold lines, affecting text.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
Talmud Bavli – complete set. Munich-Heidelberg, 1948. "Published by the Union of Rabbis in the American Occupation Zone in Germany".
After World War II, the demand for Talmud and holy books by surviving Jews congregated in the DP camps exceeded the few available copies. From 1946, the Union of Rabbis in Germany, with the assistance of the American army and the JDC, began to print volumes of Talmud for survivors. At first, only a few tractates were printed in various formats. In 1948, the present edition – a complete edition of the Talmud – was printed for the first time. Each volume contains two title pages. The first title page was especially designed to commemorate the printing of the Talmud on the debased German land; on its upper part is an illustration of a Jewish town with the caption "From slavery to redemption and from darkness to great light"; on its lower part is an illustration of barbed wire fences and a concentration camp, with the captions: "Labor camp in Germany during Nazi era", "They almost destroyed me on Earth, but I did not forsake Your precepts" (Psalms 119).
19 vols. Approx. 39 cm. Bristle paper in some of the volumes. Good to good-fair condition. Stains. Tears, including tears along title pages of tractates Gittin and kiddushin, affecting illustrations on title page. Title page of tractate Rosh HaShana missing. Creases. Original bindings. Blemishes to bindings, tears to spine, restored with tape and cloth.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.