Bidspirit auction | (BULGARIA). The Sephardic Jewish Community

(BULGARIA). The Sephardic Jewish Community of Roustchouk (today, Ruse, Bulgaria). Mutual Aid Society, or Fund (Hevra). Large chromolithograph with manuscript additions. Text almost entirely in Ladino,   few lines in Hebrew. Three portrait photographs tipped in featuring communal leaders: Abraham Isaac Cubo, Isaac David Bali, Israel Salomon Rosanes. Single page. Upper and lower portion strengthened on verso. 16 x 23 inches (40.6 x 58.4 cm). Sofia, S.J. Grassiani, c. 1910. Formal set of bylaws setting out how the Roustchouk Jewish community fund operates, how much members must contribute and expect to collect, and rules concerning withdrawing or owing money. Roustchouk (or Rustchuk, current name Ruse), is the fifth-largest city in Bulgaria. It is situated in the northeastern part of the country, on the right bank of the Danube, 300 km from the capital Sofia. Ruse was once a thriving center of Jewish life (approx. 2,500 members pre-WWII), with a rich Sephardic heritage. Founded in 1788 by refugees from Belgrade, the community was key to local trade, building synagogues that served both Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews. Bulgaria’s first Ladino printing house was inaugurated in Ruse in 1893. The Nobel Prize winner for literature Elias Canetti (1905-94) was born in Ruse, indeed his mother tongue was Ladino. See the study by the Ruse born historian Solomon Abraham Rosanes (1862-1938) “Istoria di la Komunidad Israelita di Rustchuk” (1914) and see: https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12945-rustchuk