Auction 50
Lot 079:
“And we are already tired of the controversy that prevails in our holy land” – a protest letter addressed to the Bikkur Cholim hospital, signed by American rabbis led by Rabbi Yaakov David Wilovsky (the Ridbaz), then Rabbi of Chicago, and Rabbi Shalom Elchanan HaLevi Yafeh, Rabbi of Saint Louis. Regarding the harassment of poor Jerusalemites from America at Bikur Cholim Hospital in Jerusalem. New York, 1901.
Background: in 1896 the Kollel Amerika was established in Jerusalem to support the Jews of Jerusalem who originated in the United States. Its establishment provoked strong opposition in Jerusalem of those days for fear that the kollel would erode the revenues of other institutions that relied mainly on donations from the United States (then as now…). At the forefront of the struggle was the General Committee of Knesset Yisrael, which was the umbrella organization of all kollels, which waged a bitter struggle that included writing articles and pamphlets and signing rabbis’ letters calling on American Jews to desist. In the letter before us, U.S. rabbis are protesting the management of the hospital, over the rumor that poor patients of American descent are required to pay large sums by the hospital management, while the poor of the rest of the kollels are not required to pay anything. "Therefore we rightly demand that you give to all American immigrants in holiness, doctors and medicine free of charge."
The letter is signed by Rabbi Yaakov David Wilovsky "the Ridbaz" of Slutzk, then Rabbi of Chicago before immigrating to Israel, and Rabbi Shalom Elchanan HaLevi Yafeh, Rabbi of Saint Louis and a leader of the Rabbinical Assembly in the US. Also signed are Rabbi Dov Beer Abramowitz (a leader of the REITS yeshiva in New York and a founder of the Agudas Rabbanim of the USA and Canada), Rabbi Yehuda David Eisenstein (author of the Otzer HaMidrashim), Rabbi Moshe Zvi Hochstein, Rabbi Asher Lemil Grodzinsky, Rabbi Kasriel Sarasohn, and more. 29x23cm. Tears in the margins, creases, stains, good condition.
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