Bidspirit auction | Extraordinary Brochos from Rabbeinu the

Extraordinary Brochos from Rabbeinu the Maharit Algazi, Baal Hilchos Yom Tov ZYA”A - Extremely Rare Letter acknowledging the receipt of funds on behalf of the Holy City of Yerushalayim from the Kehillah of Ferrara, issued by the emissaries of Yerushalayim at that time, Rabbeinu Yom Tov Algazi and Rabbi Yaakov Beit Chazan ZYA”A. The letter is replete with remarkable brochos: ”...May abundant goodness be theirs, and may they delight in an abundance of peace. May they dwell securely for generations and rise to ever greater heights of success, amidst fullness of joy. Thus write the undersigned here in the city of Ferrara, at the close of the month of Iyar, in the year 'Veyirshu es Ha'aretz' (1772), with abundant strength and peace. Yom Tov Algazi...” The word ”Veyirshu” is marked with quotation marks, apparently alluding to its gematria, corresponding to the year 1772. A Mission to Save the Holy City and Strengthen the Communities of the Diaspora Between 1770 and 1772, the Maharit Algazi and his companion Rabbi Yaakov Beit Chazan served as shadarim of Yerushalayim, traveling to the Jewish communities of Ashkenaz and Sepharad. Their mission was undertaken to rescue the Yishuv of Yerushalayim from a dire financial crisis. Contemporary sources relate that debts had mounted to the enormous sum of seventy thousand arיות, and that even the generous contributions of Jews abroad barely sufficed to cover the interest. It was therefore decided to dispatch Rabbeinu Yom Tov Algazi and Rabbi Yaakov Beit Chazan as emissaries on behalf of the city (Get Mekushar, 2016 edition, p. 13). During their travels, they strengthened Jewish communities throughout the Diaspora and granted haskamos to important seforim, among them Rabbi David Pardo's foundational Chasdei Dovid on the Tosefta. Autograph Manuscript of the Maharit Algazi - Of Exceptional Rarity The present letter appears to have been written entirely in the Maharit's own hand. It clearly was not penned by one of the scribes of Ferrara, as its style bears no resemblance to contemporary Italian hands and is more characteristic of Eretz Yisroel or Turkey. Who more likely than Rabbeinu himself would have written the receipt that bears his own signature? (Although it is possible that the writer was Rabbi Yaakov Beit Chazan, whose signature appears on the left.) To the best of our knowledge, no authenticated manuscript in the hand of the Maharit Algazi is known; only signatures and later copies have been documented. Rabbeinu Yom Tov Algazi, Baal Hilchos Yom Tov (1727–1802), was one of the outstanding gedolim of his generation. His monumental Hilchos Yom Tov on the Ramban to Maseches Bechoros earned a lasting place in the world of Torah and is studied with great diligence to this day throughout the Torah world. In particular, it is regarded as one of the foremost seforim of lomdus in the yeshivah world. Maran the Chasam Sofer remarked regarding the work, ”Since the appearance of the Mishneh LaMelech, no work comparable to this has been seen.” He was the son of the renowned Baal Ar'a D'Rabbanan, whose sefer he later published together with his own notes and additions. Among his other printed works are Shu”t Simchas Yom Tov and Shu”t Kedushas Yom Tov. The Chida extolled him in glowing terms, referring to him as: ”A wondrous gaon and holy chossid, the glory of Klal Yisroel, a true Yom Tov Rishon d'Oraisa, a gaon and wonder of the generation, and a crown of holiness.”