[Rabbinical epistle approving an emissary].
[מכתב-הסכמה לשד"ר].

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Contributor:

Elis & Ruth Douer Endowed Fund.

Yitsḥaḳi, Yosef ha-kohen, -1786?, signer.

Ḳaṭariṿas, Shemaryah, signer.

Khayaṭ, Avraham, signer.

Najar, David, signer.

יצחקי, יוסף הכהן.

קאטאריוואס, שמרייה.

חייט, אברהם.

נג'אר, דוד.

Language:

Aramaic

Hebrew

Subjects (All):

Hadas, Shemuʼel, emmisary (Tunis, Tunisia), active 18th century.

Rabbis--Tunisia--Tunis--18th century--Correspondence.

Rabbis.

Charity.

Jews--Tunisia--Tunis--18th century--Correspondence.

Jews.

Local Subjects:

Hadas, Shemuʼel, emmisary (Tunis, Tunisia), active 18th century.

Genre:

tuǧras.

autographs (manuscripts)

Penn Provenance:

Sold by Winner's Auctions (Jerusalem), Auction 122 (July 20, 2020) lot 48.

Physical Description:

1 leaf : paper ; 270 x 313 (195 x 265) mm.

Place of Publication:

Tunis, 8 Kisleṿ 5523 [24 November 1762]

תוניס, ח' כסלו תקכ"ג.

Language Note:

Hebrew; various passages of prose in Aramaic.

Summary:

This is a manuscript epistle sent on behalf of Shemuʼel Hadas by the rabbis of Tunis for the collection of alms and charity on his own behalf and on behalf of the printing of the unpublished scholarship of two deceased Tunis rabbis, Yitsḥaḳ [ha-kohen] Yitsḥaḳi (died after 1738) and his brother Avraham [ha-kohen] Yitsḥaḳi (died after 1728). The epistle recounts Hadas' troubled recent itinerary from Jerusalem to North Africa, that his money had been stolen from him, and he suffered from illness (though the money he was to collect was to support his medical help as well as supporting his wife and children, "starving and thirsting" (line 12); the letter assures Hadas' reputation for previously collecting on behalf of his paying for a year of medical visits in "the cities of Edom", doctors in Italy); additionally, the letter claims that his publishing aspirations included unpublished material of Joseph ben David ibn Lev of Thessalonikē (1505-1580). Four tuǧra signatures (Yosef ha-kohen [Yitsḥaḳi], Shemaryah Ḳaṭariṿas, Avraham Khayaṭ, and Daṿid Najar) below epistle text; document may have included additional information (now lost; item previously folded in a binding).

Notes:

Ms. document.

Title supplied by cataloger.

Layout: Written in 25 long lines (four lines of introduction in prose; letter in 21 lines).

Script: Written in an 18th century Maghrebi cursive script.

Decoration: Stylized letters (in the Maghrebi scribal custom) at upper right.

Origin: Written in Tunis, Tunisia, on 8 Kislev 5523 (Wednesday, 24 November 1762).

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Elis & Ruth Douer Endowed Fund.

Cited as:

UPenn CAJS Rar Ms 565.

OCLC:

1334495565