Kol MeHeichal, announcement from the rabbis of Jerusalem for the upcoming Shemitah year (1888-1889), calling for assistance to the farmers of the Shemitah-observant moshavot. With original stamps of R. Yehoshua Leib (Maharil) Diskin, R. Shmuel Salant and the Beit Din of the Ashkenazi community in Jerusalem. [Jerusalem, 1888].

Call for assistance from Jews of the Diaspora for contributions to the moshavot in Eretz Israel in the shemitah year of 1888-1889. With printed signatures of thirty rabbis of Jerusalem.
Below the call for assistance is a notice from R. Shmuel Salant and R. Yehoshua Leib Diskin disqualifying the Heter Mechirah and forbidding agricultural work by both Jews and non-Jews during the shemitah year, stamped by R. Yehoshua Leib Diskin, R. Shmuel Salant and the Beit Din of the Ashkenazi community in Jerusalem.
In anticipation of the 1889 shemitah year, representatives of the moshavot asked rabbis of Lithuania and Russia for an allowance for agricultural work by sale of the land to a non-Jew. This lit a controversy participated in by leading rabbis of the generation. The Ashkenazi rabbis of Jerusalem, headed by R. Diskin and R. Salant, refused to approve of Heter Mechirah.

[1] leaf. Approx. 25X40 cm. Good-fair condition. Light stains. Folding marks. Tears to fold and center of the leaf, without loss. Open tear in margins of leaf, not affecting text.

Not recorded by Sh. Halevy.

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

Devar HaShemitah, by R. Eliezer Eliyahu Wallenstein – letters of rabbis and opposition to Heter Mechirah. Jerusalem: Zichron Shlomo, sons of R. Y. L. Löwy, 1889.

Contains halachic rulings supporting and opposing Heter Mechirah, an allowance for agricultural work in the Shemitah year by sale of the land to a non-Jew. Stamps (Hebrew and English).

26 pages. 16 cm. Dry paper. Good condition. Stains. Small marginal tears to several leaves, repaired with paper filling. New binding.

Sh. Halevy, no. 648.

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

Eizo Hi Mishnah, on the history of the Mishnah from the giving of the Torah until R. Yehudah HaNasi, by R. Chaim Hirschensohn. Jerusalem: printed by the author R. Chaim Hirschensohn, 1890.

On second leaf, printed dedication to Dr. Azriel Hildesheimer in honor of his 70th birthday. At the top of the leaf, the author adds a handwritten dedication (somewhat trimmed).to "Dr. Chazanowitz" (apparently Dr. Yosef Chazanowitz, a founder of the Midrash Abarbanel library, today the National Library of Israel).

[3] leaves (and another blank leaf), 46 pages. 21.5 cm. Good condition. Light stains. Open tear to title page, slightly affecting title frame, repaired with paper to verso. Handwritten inscriptions. New leather binding.

Sh. Halevy, no. 692.

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.

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.