Auction 70
Lot 353:
Rare Letter, on official stationery with its sender’s logo: "HOLY LAND – Sir Moses Montefiore" handwritten in Hebrew, apparently by a scribe and with the handwritten signature of the famed Philanthropist Sir Moshe Montefiore. Addressed to Rabbi Meir Manikst and Rabbi Yaakov Yehuda Leib Löw Av Beit Din of Jerusalem.
The content of the letter: a sum of money was sent by Matilda Mechton, expressing her gratitude to the rabbis of Jerusalem, who, at her request, conducted prayers for the health of her husband, prayers that eventually were heard and her husband recovered. "והתרומה הזאת היא מנחת תודה על אשר הקימה את בעלה מערש חוליו".
12X19 cm. Ink stains. Creases. Good condition.
The author of the letter, Moshe Montefiore: the most revered national figure at the time, due to his sublime deeds to the aid of his Jewish brothers, all out of his immense love for the Jews.
Moshe Montefiore lived for over a hundred years, devoting all his days entirely to the benefit of the Jewish people. He was famed for his great actions for the benefit of the Jews in Europe, Asia, Africa, and especially for the regenerating Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel, whose existence cannot be described without Montefiore’s help. Thanks to his lofty status and his sublime influence, the man became a kind of ambassador of the Jews. He appeared as a miraculous figure and as a savior, and in many Jewish homes, his picture appeared alongside pictures of the Vilna Gaon, Rabbi Yitzhak Elchanan Spector of Kovna, and more. Very few homes across the Jewish world (from Russia to Morocco, Austria and Romania to Egypt, Syria, and Israel) lacked a portrait of Sir Montefiore on its “Eastern wall”, with a black kippah on his head, wearing his usual clothes.
Ahavat Torah: Montefiore cherished the rabbis. His love for the Torah was great. Wherever he went, he made sure to meet with leading rabbis and Admorim. In 1867 he established a Beit Midrash in his city of Ramsgate, called “Ohel Moshe VeYehudit”, supporting the few Avrechim that studied there.
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