Bidspirit auction | Historical item – the accounting

Historical item – the accounting ledger of the “Etz Chaim” Yeshiva. Jerusalem, 1931–1940 - Bound accounting ledger, large and thick – a rare and valuable testimony to the financial system of one of the oldest and most central Haredi institutions in the Land of Israel – the “Etz Chaim” Talmud Torah and Bikur Cholim of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, 1931–1940. This ledger, spanning approximately 500 densely written and meticulously organized pages, records — line by line — the income and expenses of the institution over an entire decade! It contains the names of rabbis, donors, trustees, and distinguished community members, alongside records of donations, loans, withdrawals, and deposits in Jerusalem banks. The document reveals a rare economic layer of Torah institutions in the Land of Israel during the turbulent years preceding the establishment of the State — years marked by poverty, faith, and a deep sense of mission. The Etz Chaim Yeshiva, founded in 1841 (תר״א) by Rabbi Shmuel Salant, is the oldest Torah institution of the Old Yishuv in Jerusalem. It became the beating heart of Jerusalem’s Torah world, comprising a Talmud Torah, junior and senior yeshivot, and a kollel for married scholars — a symbol of enduring Torah legacy. It was said in Jerusalem: “One enters Etz Chaim wrapped in a tallit” — a three-year-old boy on his way to cheder — “and leaves Etz Chaim wrapped in a tallit” — on his final journey to the cemetery at the age of 120... This manuscript is a primary source for the study of Haredi philanthropy during the crucial period of immigration and settlement before statehood, as well as for the history of the Etz Chaim institution and the daily life of Jerusalem’s Haredi community in the early 20th century — a world built on charity, public responsibility, and reverence for Heaven. Large ledger: 34×21 cm; approx. 500 pages, most handwritten. Condition: very good; original hard binding.