Bidspirit auction | Rare! Fine and Poetic Letter

Rare! Fine and Poetic Letter Handwritten and Signed by Rabbi David Chaim the Grandson and Successor of the Ben Ish Chai - Baghdad, 1924 - ”כי עסק הסחורה הולך וחסור”  - fascinating letter by the Gaon Rabbi David Chaim the grandson  of the Ben Ish Chai - addressed to Prof. Chaim Pick and Prof. Hermann Struck - fine Rashi script - Baghdad, 1924.  In his letter, Rabbi David Chaim apologizes for the unsuccessful Shlichut of the rabbis, Rav Maimon and Rabbi Panigel, who were sent to Iraq on behalf of the Histadrut to raise funds for the settlement of Eretz Yisrael. The letter is written in poetic language, as was customary bu contemporary Eastern Jews: ל. את דבריו כותב רבי דוד בלשון ספרותית ומליצית כמקובל בקרב יהודי המזרח באותם הימים ”השתדלנו עמהם בכל מאמצי כחינו לעמוד על ימינם ולעזור על ידם... אך לבגידת הזמן מצד הבינונים חסורי מחסרא והכא קתני... ולא יכלו למלא כריסם כי עסק הסחורה הולך וחסור... ואת עלית על כולנא כי שכירות הבתים פי חמשה וששה מקודם המלחמה... ומצד הגבירים הם עומדים מנגד בדבר זה מתפחדים מהממשלה הערבית ומהמושלמים...”  (apparently, they feared the Arabic response to their support of the Zionist enterprise...).  Very fine script, on the official stationery of Rabbi ”David ben Harav Hagaon Yaakov and grandson the true Gaon Maran Yosef Chaim Baghdad”, with his handwritten signature.  Letters by Rabbi David are extremely rare and have almost never been auctioned.  22.5X29 cm.  Filing perforations slightly affecting the text. Good condition.  *** The Gaon Rabbi David Chaim (1888-1983) Rav in Iraq and in old age, in Israel. The son the Mekubal and Gaon Rabbi Yaakov Chaim, the son and successor of Maran Rabbi Yosef Chaim, the Ben Ish Chai. Rabbi David was a humble man and refused a rabbinic position, yet succeeded his forefathers by dleivering sermons four Sabbaths a year in the famed Tzalach al Kabir Synagogue of Naghdad. In 1972, he immigrated to Israel. Rabbi David managed to bring with him many of his grandfather's manuscripts and books. His life work was publishing his grandfather's manuscript and passing on the Torah of the Ben Ish Chai.