Bidspirit auction | Fascinating! Handwritten and Autographed Letter

Fascinating! Handwritten and Autographed Letter from Kolel HaChassidim in Tzfas by Rabbi Shmuel Heller and Rabbi Moshe Dovid Ashkenazi of Tolcsva Tzfas, 1849 * A remarkable letter addressed to “the doctor and Torah scholar” Rabbi Zev Assia, in which the heads of the Chassidic communities in Tzfas beseech him to come to their city and serve as a physician for the ill, promising him full remuneration. The letter is written in the handwriting and bears the signature of the famed gaon Rabbi Shmuel Heller, who would later serve as Av Beis Din of Tzfas. On the left-hand side of the page, an additional ten lines were written and signed by Rabbi Moshe Dovid Ashkenazi of Tolcsva, who was serving at that time as Av Beis Din of Tzfas. Rabbi Moshe Dovid of Tolcsva was one of the founding figures of the Sighet-Satmar dynasty - the Yitev Lev of Sighet being his son-in-law. Alongside them are the signatures of four additional trustees of the Chassidic kollelim in Tzfas. The Rebbe of Tolcsva emphasizes that the offer stands only if there is no objection from the Perushim Kollel in Yerushalayim, which had already employed the physician there. In the end, the doctor did not relocate to Tzfas, for he was virtually the only practicing physician in Yerushalayim (aside from the missionary doctors). The one to serve as the doctor in Tzfas was none other than the holy Rabbi Shmuel Heller himself! (For more information, see below.) Tzfas, 1849. Main body of the letter is in the handwriting and with the signature of Rabbi Shmuel Heller, with an added ten lines on the left side in the handwriting and with the signature of the holy Rebbe of Tolcsva, and four more signatures of trustees. Size: 15 x 19.8 cm. Condition: Some small tears and wear on the margins. Stains. Rabbi Moshe Dovid Ashkenazi of Tolcsva (1774–1856), author of Toldos Adam, served as Rav of Tolcsva for forty years. He corresponded with the Chasam Sofer and his mechutan the Yismach Moshe. Upon reaching the age of seventy, he asked his son-in-law, the Yitav Lev, whether he should journey to Eretz Yisrael or publish his sefarim. The latter advised him to go to the Holy Land, where he merited to publish his works. He arrived in Yerushalayim in 1843 and moved to Tzfas to serve as the leader of the Ashkenazi community which he led until his passing on 18 Tammuz 1856. His published works include Toldos Adam on the Talmud (Jerusalem, 1845) and Be’er Sheva on the Torah (ibid. 1853). Rabbi Shmuel Heller (c.1803–1884) was a righteous and renowned kabbalist and Av Beis Din of Tzfas. He visited the Chozeh of Lublin several times during his youth, and the Chozeh personally placed tefillin on him and blessed him. He immigrated with his father to Tzfas where he gained a reputation as a great sage and Kabbalist and was appointed to be the Rav of the city. Aside from his greatness in halacha and Chassidus, Rabbi Shmuel was deeply knowledgeable in medicine and authored Refuos U'Segulos (Jerusalem, 1907). People from across the Galilee, including non-Jews, would come to him for medical care, which he offered without compensation. “And he was like Shmuel the doctor in his time” (Zichron Lechovevim Harishonim, issue 19). The recipient of the letter, the well-known physician Rabbi Zev Assia of Salant (d. 1872), was a Torah scholar and God-fearing man who spent his days in Torah study and was highly proficient in medical knowledge. Rabbi Zundel of Salant wrote about him in a letter: “He is renowned in our land as one who succeeds with the help of Heaven” (Asufat Genazim, Jerusalem 2018, letter 7). When he settled in Eretz Yisrael in 1846, he received enthusiastic letters of recommendation from the Rabbanim of Lithuania. His grandson was Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Levinson-Salant. See in this catalog the Kesav Semichah given to this grandson. ___________________ It is important to note that acquiring a G-d-fearing and expert Jewish doctor was not merely a matter of communal need, but a true cornerstone of the Chareidi community’s existence in those days, when it was exceedingly rare to find Jewish physicians of a high caliber, let alone ones who were G-d fearing and observant. The near-exclusive alternative was the missionary hospitals, and the Rabbanim of Eretz Yisrael issued the most severe bans against anyone who sought treatment there - such people would not have their dead buried nor their sons circumcised.