Bidspirit auction | Tzir Neeman, Jerusalem 1897 –

Tzir Neeman, Jerusalem 1897 – A Journey Around the World: A Man of Suwałki, One of the Founders of Yesod HaMa‘alah, Confidant of the Maharil Diskin – and a Vast List of Donors from Across America and the Diaspora in 1898… Including the Endorsements of the Chief Rabbi of NY Rabbeynu Yaakov Josef – and of His Rival… - Tzir Neeman “Containing thirteen essays with an introduction that I have investigated and expounded in gatherings of the holy people”. Yehoshua Ze’ev ben A.A. Rabbi Yisrael Yitzchak, of blessed memory, Zissenwein, called Avner… a native of Suwałki. Jerusalem 1899 Color title page! [In other copies an additional title page is added: “Compiled by me, the youngest of the members of the Holy Community of Jerusalem…” in Yiddish and in a foreign language: Eigenthum des Verfassers, “In the year 1898 the Holy City of Jerusalem, may it be rebuilt and established.” English line: “Reverend Avner, Jerusalem.” In some copies a leaf was added [not in this copy]: “R’ Avner is no more!!!” A plea and outcry from the author’s widow – a request to purchase the book to support them, accompanied by a proclamation from rabbis, among them Yosef Rivlin – the author’s son-in-law. Afterwards a proclamation from the rabbis of the Ashkenazic Beit Din. It appears that the title page and the proclamation were added for sending abroad on behalf of the widow and her children.] Endorsements: The Yissa Berakhah. The Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of New York! who writes: “And it contains words of Torah of אדמו”ר רעינו הגאון הגדול מו”ה משה יהושע ליב שליט”א who was in the city of Brisk.” Rabbi Hillel Katz, called Dr. Klein. [He was the rabbi of the Hungarian immigrants in New York, a close associate of the Chief Rabbi Rabbi Yaakov Yosef.] Testimony of R’ Mendel Moynshter, loyal attendant of the Maharil, that the Maharil set his eye upon the work and corrected it properly. The endorsement of “Yehoshua son of the great Gaon our teacher Rabbi Moshe Yosef, Chief Rabbi of the Congregations of Israel here in New York [!!].” A wonder indeed: Rabbi Yehoshua Sigel, from Szepes in Poland, author of Responsa Oznei Yehoshua and a book on the Manhattan eruv, was one of the opponents of the Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, and appointed himself “Chief Rabbi” in order to challenge his authority (see Otzar Zikhronotay, J.D. Eisenstein, p. 270). The endorsement of R’ Rafael Aharon ben Shimon, then Av Beit Din of Egypt. The Rabbis of London. The endorsement of the Radiner Rav in Jerusalem, see item 25 regarding him. The Gaon Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld. And added to his words was the author of Tzitz HaKodesh. The Maharil was alive during some of the endorsements, and passed away at the time of printing. In the introduction the author relates that, at the advice of the Maharil, he participated in founding the settlement of Yesod HaMa‘alah, and afterwards invested with the Chovevei Tzion [at the advice of the Maharil!] to purchase Arbel, and because of an act of informing the investment was lost and he remained destitute, and the Maharil took him under his wing and provided his needs, and walked with him often, and spoke of the need for a book to strengthen observance of the commandments just as the Nefesh HaChaim had strengthened Torah study, and he understood that not only the great ones of Israel… The introduction appears with a translation into Yiddish! The final essay is a hadran in honor of the marriage of his daughter to R’ Yosef Rivlin. A historical list!: A list of those who prepaid on behalf of “Zion.” A historical roster from 1898 of hundreds of Jews in dozens of cities across the world, primarily in the United States! [New York, Brooklyn – which in that same year 1898 had been made a part of New York City], Brownsville, Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, Washington, London, Manchester, Nashville Tennessee, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Savannah, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Paris, Cairo [all Ashkenazic names, headed by the Gaon Rabbi Mendel HaKohen, rabbi of the Ashkenazic community in Cairo], Alexandria, Atlanta, and more. At the end: four pages copied by the author from the book Jerusalem by T. Salomon, with a historical and geographic survey of the City of David, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount, with illustrations.