Auction 2 Kisvei Yad, Autographs of Gedolei Yisroel & Seforim
Apr 28, 2020
Israel
 5 Reiness St. Bnei Brak
Manuscripts of Gedolei Yisroel - Hafla'ah & Chasam Sofer Dynasty, Rabbinical Seminary Controversy. Gedolim of Hungary, Lithuania, and Poland. Important & Rare Seforim.
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LOT 60:

Signature of the Famous Lubavitcher Spy - Rabbi Moshe Meisels of Vilna, the ...

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Signature of the Famous Lubavitcher Spy - Rabbi Moshe Meisels of Vilna, the Disciple of the Baal HaTanya. On an Emissary Letter for Rabbi Nathan Amram. Chevron 1834
Emissary letter from 1834, signed by the leading rabbis of Hebron and the heads of the Ashkenazi / Chabad community in Hebron, in support of the mission of the Gaon Rabbi Nathan Amram.
The Ashkenazi chachamim who signed the letter are:
Rabbi Shmuel, the son of Rabbi Mordechai Segal, a halachic instructor in Rohaczów: one of the heads of the Chabad community in Hebron and one of the elders of the Hebron community in general.
Rabbi Moshe Meizlish of Vilna: author of Shiras Moshe, written in his youth. He merited to study under the Vilna Gaon and following the latter’s death Rabbi Moshe became a close disciple of the Ba’al HaTanya.
One of the marvelous stories handed down in Chassidic tradition is about Rabbi Moshe Meisels, who infiltrated Napoleon’s army in order to gather intelligence for the Russian Czar. Rabbi Moshe was a very learned man who spoke many languages: German, Russian, Polish and French. Thanks to these talents he was hired as a translator in Napoleon’s army, and used this position to gather extensive information, which he passed on to the Russians. Once Napoleon himself entered the room where Rabbi Moshe was, and when the emperor noticed the Chassid, he shouted, “You are a Russian spy!” Before Rabbi Moshe could think what he should do, Napoleon reached out his hand and pressed it against Rabbi Moshe’s chest. The French emperor wanted to feel whether the Chassid’s heart was racing, which would be evidence of his distress. Then something unexpected happened – the Chassid’s heartbeat remained steady and did not give away the tempest of emotions that gripped him, as if Napoleon was just another person. The emperor was convinced that Rabbi Moshe was not a spy and let him go.
After that incident, the Chassidim asked Rabbi Moshe, “How did you manage to maintain your composure and keep your heartbeat steady?” Rabbi Moshe replied that he simply drew on the fundamentals of Chassidus, “The brain controls the heart! The Ba’al HaTanya taught us, time after time, that the intellect in the brain must rule over the emotions in the heart! That’s what I did, and I managed to stay calm.”
After suspicions were raised against Rabbi Moshe, he escaped to Eretz Yisrael and was among the founders of the Chabad community in Hebron and one of its prominent leaders.
Rabbi Binyamin Beinush, the son of Rabbi Moshe - one of the earliest members of the Jewish community in Hebron, and a grandson of the emissary Rabbi Yisrael of Plozsk.
Rabbi Yehudah Leib bar Zev Wolf Senar – one of the elders of the Hebron Jewish community.
The Sephardi chachamim who signed the letter are:
Rabbi Yom Tov Eliyakim – a rabbi from Sofia, he moved to Safed in 1813. From 1839 he was the head rabbi of the Hebron community, and was a rabbi in Jerusalem towards during the final years of his life.
Rabbi Moshe Yom Tov
Yitzchak Rephael Shaul HaKohen – author of Re’ach Sadeh. He was a student of the Chakrei Lev. In 1846 he was appointed head rabbi of Hebron, after the passing of Rabbi Yom Tov Elyakim. Rabbi Rephael was eulogized by Rabbi Chaim Palachi in Artzot HaChaim.
Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu HaLevi
Rabbi Chaim Shmuel Chassan – was also a signatory to the emissary letter from Hebron rabbis in 1828.
Rabbi Natan Amram (1791-1871) was one of the great Sephardi talmidei chachamim of the 19th century, a renowned rabbi in Alexandria and the author of the important series Kinyan Guf and Kinyan Peitot. In 1834 he went to Europe as an emissary for the Jewish community in Hebron and dedicated many years to the wellbeing of the community.

19.5 X 26 cm. A few stains. Good condition.


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