Letter signed by the members of the "Va'ad Hakelali" of the Ashkenazic community in Hebron: R. Shimon Menashe Chaikin, R. Binyamin Rivlin and R. Meir Tzvi Hershler. Hebron, 1890.
The letter was sent to the administrators of "Pekidim Ve'Amarkelim" in Amsterdam, and contains an account of the expenditures for food and medicine for those suffering during the plague outbreak. The reverse contains a detailed list of expenses "to assist the suffering, may their troubles not return".
R. Shmuel Menashe Chaikin (1777-1893) was a prominent disciple of the "Mitteler Rebbe" and the Tzemach Tzedek of Chabad. He moved from Slutsk to the Holy Land in the 1810s, and served as the Chabad rabbi in Hebron for over 70 years, until his passing at the age of 116. At the time he signed this letter, he was 113 years old.
R. Binyamin Rivlin (passed away 1912) was the son of R. Eliyahu Yosef of Drybin, author of "Ohalei Yosef", and son-in-law of R. Yaakov Kuli Slonim. He was one of the leaders if the Chabad community in Hebron.
R. Meir Tzvi Hershler was born in Hungary in 1856, and moved to Eretz Israel in 1865. During the events chronicled in this letter he was living in Hebron with his father-in-law, R. Yonah Zev Mendelson, a Chabad chassid. The establishment of a new Ashkenazic community in Hebron led to friction between the new community and the original Chabad residents. R. Hershler was appointed ambassador between the two communities in his position as leader of the Ashkenazic "Va'ad HaKelali" which he established in the city.
Official stationary. 29 cm. Letterhead printed in golden ink, with an illustration of Me'arat Hamachpela. Good condition. Dampstains to the left margin.