Bidspirit auction | Original Will of Rabbi Shmuel

Original Will of Rabbi Shmuel Salant Jerusalem, 1903 * The will of the legendary Rav of the Holy City of Jerusalem and leader of the Ashkenazi Yishuv, Rabbi Shmuel Salant. The will is signed in his holy handwriting. By this time, his eyesight had already dimmed, as is evident from the form of the signature. Rabbi Shmuel Salant wrote the will on his eighty-seventh birthday, the 2nd of Shevat 1903. It addresses a wide array of matters in detailed fashion: his estate, his sefarim, his wife's kesubah and sustenance, a request not to be eulogized, and the text for his gravestone. The will opens with the words: ”Since man does not know his time, and especially I, who by the grace of Hashem have today, Monday, the 2nd of Shevat 1903, completed eighty-seven years (May He preserve and sustain me for His service), I saw it as a duty to arrange a will, to thereby reveal my clear and complete will and desire.” It concludes on a personal and moving note of gratitude: ”And I bless our dear brethren who assisted me with their strength and means to uplift the state of our Holy City throughout my years of service, to support the Yishuv in Jerusalem and uphold the foundations of charity and kindness for the glory of our people and the City of our G-d. May Hashem command for them blessing, life, and peace, and may we all merit together to rejoice with the joy of Zion, when Hashem returns the captivity of His people, and a new light shall shine upon Zion speedily in our days, Amen.” Rabbi Shmuel Salant (1816-1909) was the legendary Rav of Jerusalem and leader of the Ashkenazic community for close to a half-century. He immigrated to the Holy Land in 1841 where he served in various leadership positions and directed myriad Torah and charity institutions in Jerusalem for seventy years. After Rabbi Shmuel Salant signed the will, it was ratified by two prominent Jerusalem activists and distinguished Torah scholars who were closely connected to him: Rabbi Yaakov Yehuda Chefetz – one of the elders of Jerusalem, a great sage, member of the Vaad Haklali, and head of the Chevra Kadisha. Rabbi Yosef Ziv – a leading figure in the Ashkenazi community, a notable Torah scholar and tireless activist who held several key roles: secretary of Kollel Vilna, one of the heads of the Vaad Haklali, gabbai of the Bikur Cholim society, among others. Following the drafting of the will, and with Rabbi Shmuel Salant’s continued longevity, several revisions were made. For example, he had originally appointed Rabbi Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Teomim (the Aderet) and Rabbi Eliyahu Mordechai Eisenstein as executors of the will. However, since the Aderet passed away in 1905, during Rabbi Salant’s lifetime, his name was removed. In section 8, Rabbi Salant originally wrote, “May they remember that I served for the welfare of our Holy City for sixty-two years, ” which was later amended to “sixty-six years.” As supervisor and custodian of his library, he appointed “my beloved and dear one, Rabbi Yechiel Michel Tukachinsky, ” the son-in-law of his son Rabbi Binyamin Beinush Salant. The will is written in the handwriting of Rabbi Eliyahu Mordechai Eisenstein — one of the beloved and prominent figures of Jerusalem, who served as Rabbi Shmuel Salant’s close confidant and personal scribe. Jerusalem, 1903. Folded leaf. Size: 14×22 cm. Four full pages. Condition: Good. The inscription for his gravestone is addressed in Section 7 of the will, where Rabbi Salant writes: ”On the gravestone, only the title 'the Rav' should be engraved, without any additional titles whatsoever, for I despise falsehood. And this inscription shall be engraved on the stone: 'Here lies the Rav, Rabbi Shmuel (Salant), son of the Rav Rabbi Zvi, zt”l.'” In this, he followed the path of his father-in-law, the Gaon Rabbi Yosef Zundel Salant, who likewise instructed this. (Incidentally, the gravestone is a column taken from the courtyard of the Churvah of Rabbi Yehuda HaChassid, upon which Rabbi Shmuel Salant used to sit.) _____________ ”Since man does not know his time, and especially I, who by the grace of Hashem have today, Monday, the 2nd of Shevat 1903, completed eighty-seven years (may He preserve and sustain me for His service), I saw it as a duty to arrange a will, to thereby reveal my clear and complete will and desire.”