Letter signed by 49 notables of the Kurdish community in Jerusalem, addressed to the Rishon LeTzion R. Yaakov Meir. Jerusalem, Kislev 1931.
Polemic letter against a proclamation which the Sephardi Shochetim in Jerusalem issued with the approval of the chief rabbi. In the proclamation, the Sephardi Shochetim had accused their Kurdish counterparts of improper slaughtering, thereby causing the public to sin by consuming "nevelot and terefot". The Kurdish community refute their accusations in this letter, stating that the Kurdish shochet "Ch. Shmuel Baruch son of R. Yosef" had been ordained by R. Ben Tzion Cuenca of Jerusalem and R. Yaakov Chai Labaton of Tiberias, who had attested that "his slaughtering is kosher and whoever eats from his produce has nothing to fear". They further disprove the contentions of the Sephardi Shochetim regarding the "encroachment on their rights", and write that this claim alone proves that at the crux of this whole affair are just politics and ethnic persecution: "…and this is our claim, doesn't each community have the rights, whether in matters of Shechita or other communal matters…".
[1] leaf. 28 cm. Good condition. Stains, creases and folding marks.