Piece of History: Expense Ledger for the famous "Ohel Torah". Historic Discovery

Piece of History: Expense Ledger for the famous "Ohel Torah". Historic Discovery

 

Accounts book of  of the Ohel Torah Kollel - the well-known kollel where all the great men of Jerusalem studied: The gaon Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Elyashiv, Rabbi Wosner and many others. The book is very detailed and contains valuable historical information about the great men of Jerusalem and of the important kollel in Jerusalem - the "production factory" for the leaders of the people, quite literally. Jerusalem, 1935-46.

Aside from the great historic value of this ledger about rabbinic leaders that studied in the kollel, this ledger puts an end once and for all to the dispute between historians about whether Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef was one of the members of this kollel. Indeed, for the 11 years over which the kollel kept its records in this ledger - Rabbi Ovadiah does not appear in the list of those who received a salary! (After 1946, he already held official rabbinic positions in Egypt and in Israel, and he certainly did not study in the kollel then). Another name, about which there was not dispute, and the general opinion was that he did study at the kollel, is Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach - who also does not appear in the list of those who received salaries! And this needs clarification.

In this ledger, we are exposed to the amount of the salary of each member of the kollel, an amount derived from the assessment of the rosh kollel to the Torah level of each student. Not all students were correctly assessed by the rosh kollel; among the highest paid recipients there were those who were did not eventually become rabbinic leaders of the generation, and in contrast, there were those who received lower salaries who over the years became rabbinic leaders of the generation. However, for at least one of the students, the head of the kollel was right: The salary paid the the gaon Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, starting from his first day at the kollel in the middle of the year 1940, was one of the highest monthly salaries paid to the kollel students - 4000 lirahs per month. There were those who were paid only a quarter of this, such as the tzaddik and gaon Rabbi Moshe Holtzberg from Rosh Pinah "R 'Moshe Rosh Pin'er" whose monthly salary amounted to 1,000 lirahs. Incidentally, in Jerusalem it is accepted that Rabbi Elyashiv would study at the kollel all day long - standing.

Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a more detailed list of the entries including more names along with their salaries, and a more detailed discussion of Kollel Ohel Torah.

The ledgeralso listsother expenses, beyond the rabbis' salaries: 1000 lirahs for attending the chief rabbi (Rabbi Herzog, who was the Rosh Kollel's son-in-law). The rosh kollel, Rabbi Hillman's travel expenses to Tel Aviv. Various other expenses, for emissaries, rent, down to the minute details such as: Ribbons: 50 lirahs, stamps: 265 lirahs. writing implements: 50 lirahs. It appears that the ledger-keeper was a talented and thorough person, whether it was Rabbi Chaim Kavalkin, whoerved as the kollel's secretary, and also appears inthe group pictures from 1936 (included), or whether it was Rabbi Ephraim Schiff, who served as the kollel's treasurer. Either way, the writer left a treasure trove of information about rabbinic leaders fromthe golden years of the Jewish people - its return to the land of its forefathers and the establishment of the State of Israel.

What can be learned from this is that each day heads of kollels appeal to donors to contribute to maintenance of their Kollelim, it is worthwhile to remember Rabbi Hillman's letter to donors here. How much joy must those who had the merit of contributing to this kollel and the Torah of all the rabbinic leaders who studies there, including the thousands of disciples who were directly taught by them - and this merit is directly attributed to this donor, whose donations continues to bear fruit and fruit from that fruit, to the end of time! Who can possibly guess the size of the reward of these donors in Gan Eden!

Elegant ledger, [210] pp, 24.5 cm.

Fine-very fine condition. Original binding.

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