Letter bearing the logo “Holy Land”, from Sir Moses Montefiore. The letter originally included a check for the benefit of the Jewish community in Jerusalem.
The letter is addressed to a variety of Jerusalem rabbis: Rabbi Avraham Ashkenazi, Rabbi David ben Shimon (the Dvash), Rabbi Eliezer Dan (the Ralbag), Rabbi Nissan Beck (whom Sir Montefiore hoped would turn his printing house into an economic anchor for the city’s Jews), and many more.
The letter is signed: “v’habocher b’tzion yemaher v’yachish lerachem al sheerit nachalato”
Based on the postage stamps, it seems that the envelope passed several stations: London to France, to Alexandria, to Jerusalem.
25x20cm. Creases, light stain, very 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 people of Israel. "He who pleads for the good of his people, " he concludes in the special letter before us.
Moshe Montefiore lived for over a hundred years, devoting all his days entirely to the benefit of the Jewish people. He acquired a famous name as a result of his great actions for the benefit of the people of Israel in all its diasporas: 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 in prior generations his image 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 the great men of the Torah and the great Admors. In 1867 he established a Beit Midrash in his city of Ramsgate, called “Ohel Moshe v’Yehudit”. "Montefiore was a bar oriyan, and every day of the year the Talmud was unpacked with additions and commentaries, " testified one of his contemporaries in an article published in the press.”
