Booklet of regulations and guidelines of the Degel HaTorah Society in Jerusalem, signed by the society's heads. Jerusalem: Yoel Moshe Salomon, [1891?].

Listed on the title page are the objectives of the society, its activities from the time it was established until this printing and regulations of its yeshivas and schools.
The first pages contain a historical review of the reasons leading to the founding of the society, and the final pages bear the signatures of the heads of the society: Mendel Wolpert, Chaim Yeshaya Hirschsohn, Michel Avraham Hirschsohn and Yehoshua Meir Reichman, and the society's stamp, dated "Rosh Chodesh Adar Sheni Bo [1891]".
Page 7 poses the objective of the society: to raise the banner of the Torah (in Hebrew: "Degel HaTorah") in the holy land and continues to list in brief, procedures for conducting the society, its income, the curriculum of the schools and yeshivas and regulations of benefits for the students.

8 pages. Possibly, the booklet was originally printed with an additional page. 14 cm. Good condition. Stains. Minor tears and blemishes to title page. A dark strip of paper was glued to the inner margins of the title page. New binding.
Bibliographically unknown.
Sh. Halevy listed a booklet with a similar name which was printed in 1876 as no. 284, however the present booklet differs from the one listed by her.

PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.

Kol Kore – Mi Yirpa Lach, printed broadside and signed letter, call for assistance from the Sephardi and Ashkenazi rabbis of Jerusalem, asking for food packages from abroad due to the harsh conditions in the city, after three years of the heavy famine that was then in Jerusalem. Jerusalem: printer not indicated, [1879].

The top of the printed leaf is addressed in handwriting to R. "Dov Ber son of R. Yitzchak Moshe" [apparently R. Dov Ber Rabinowitz, Rabbi of Jassy (1794-1884), son of R. Yitzchak Moshe of Jassy, a disciple of the Baal HaTanya]. The middle of the leaf contains a personal letter in handwriting, signed by six people: R. "Shalom Shmuel, shochet in Jerusalem" [who signed other official documents from Jerusalem]; R. "Baruch[?] HaLevi[?] son of R. Aryeh Leib"; R. "Eizik son of Yitzchak Moshe" [possibly the brother of the addressee]; R. "Tzvi, shochet and prayer leader of Podolia[?]", R. "Moshe Rokeach" [apparently R. Moshe Rokeach of Jassy, son of R. Yitzchak Yosef Rokeach, a follower of R. Yisrael of Ruzhin], R. "Gershon Sofer" (apparently R. Gershon Sofer (Rokeach), a Chabad Chassid who established a Torah study group in the synagogue of the Or HaChaim). At the end of the leaf is added an English signature of "Zalman Schechter" of Jerusalem.

The broadside is signed by the heads of the Sephardi and Ashkenazi communities, the Rishon LeTzion R. Avraham Ashkenazi, R. Refael Meir Panigel, and heads of the Sephardic Kollel Committee; R. Shmuel Salant and heads and rabbis of the Ashkenazi community.

At the bottom of the broadside is printed a recommendation in English by the English consul Temple Moore.

[1] leaf. 25X36.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Folding marks. Small tears to folding marks, slightly affecting text.

Not documented by Sh. Halevy.

Rare. Two variants of this broadside were sold at auction by Asufa (Kislev 2004, no. 465; Cheshvan 2005 no. 504), one with another printed recommendation by the German consul and one with no recommendation. The present copy is an unknown variant with only the recommendation by the English consul.

PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.

Printed leaf, Yerushalayim TIten Kolah – call for tzedakah collectors in England and America to support the united fundraising effort of three institutions: the Etz Chaim Torah school and yeshiva and the Bikur Cholim hospital, on the authority of R. Shmuel Salant and the rabbis of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, Kislev 1889.

The bottom of the leaf contains R. Shmuel Salant's signature in print, as well as the signatures of R. Avraham Abba Yaakov Sendrowitz, R. Moshe Eliezer Dan Ralbag, along with other rabbis and officials. The poster is stamped with an original stamp of the Etz Chaim Torah school and yeshiva.

[1] leaf. 27 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Folding marks. Tears to folds, repaired with tape. Small marginal open tear. New binding.
Rare. Does not appear in Sh. Halevy.
Provenance: Formerly of the collection of Dr. I. Mehlman, with his handwritten inscriptions.

PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.

Printed proclamation regarding "schools" in Jerusalem, by the Sephardi sages of Jerusalem, with a call to join the cherem of the Ashkenazi rabbis of Jerusalem, placed on the new school, Lemel, founded by Dr. Ludwig Frankel. [Jerusalem: printer not indicated, 1882].

The Lemel school was founded in Jerusalem by the affluent Lemel family from Austria, headed by the teacher and journalist Ludwig August Frankel. The school served as a hostel for needy children and for orphans, and its curriculum included general studies and foreign languages, incorporating song and dance, and many games and activities for the children. The Yishuv HaYashan firmly opposed the establishment of the school, and the Ashkenazi sages of Jerusalem were very wary of the general studies and foreign languages and new teaching methods in the school. The leading Jerusalem rabbis headed by the Maharil Diskin and R. Shmuel Salant proclaimed a cherem on the school, as a continuation of the cherem of Jerusalem rabbis from 1866.
This proclamation announces the joining of the Sephardi rabbis with the Ashkenazi rabbis in proclaiming a cherem on the school. It begins with trenchant words by the Kabbalist R. Yedidyah Raphael Abulafiya, who joins the opposition of the Ashkenazi rabbis against the school and against its principal, Dr. Frankel. Further in the proclamation, this stance is supported by more sages: R. Nisim Yisrael Sassoon, R. Rephael Elazar HaLevi and others.
At that time, "schools" was the common name used for the new schools, which incorporated secular subjects into their curriculum such as history, science and foreign languages.

21X34 cm. Good condition. Few stains. Folding mark and creases. Minor tears. Handwritten inscriptions.
The proclamation is not recorded by Sh. Halevy and in the Bibliography of the Hebrew Book. Only a photocopy appears in the NLI catalogue.

PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.

Printed poster, Tochachat Megulah, letters of Jerusalem rabbis relating to the controversy surrounding the ban against schools in Jerusalem which adopted secular studies in their curriculum. [Jerusalem: printer not indicated, 1887].

The poster protests the treatment of R. Leib Chefetz, a leading Torah scholar in the city, and contains sharp criticism of Dr. Ze'ev Wilhelm Herzberg, R. Chaim Hirschensohn and others. R. Leib Chefetz had been sent by R. Yehoshua Leib (Maharil) Diskin to declare a ban against the schools, whereupon he was beaten by partisans of the schools and arrested by the authorities.

[1] leaf, approx. 25X38 cm. Fair condition. Stains. Wear. Creases and folding marks. Many tears around margins, including open tears, as well as small tears to folds at center of leaf, slightly affecting text. Pencil markings inside text.

Not documented by Sh. Halevy.
Provenance: Formerly of the collection of Dr. I. Mehlman, with his handwritten inscriptions on the reverse side of the poster.

PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.