Bidspirit auction | Rare and Fascinating Letter from

Rare and Fascinating Letter from the Kabbalist Rabbi Shalom Hedaya to the Yisa Bracha, on the Question of Titles of Honor – Aleppo, 1892 * An interesting handwritten and autographed two-page letter by the gaon and kabbalist Rabbi Shalom Hedaya, one of the leading sages of Aleppo and later of Jerusalem, who served as head of the kabbalists’ yeshiva, Beis El. The letter was sent to Rabbi Yaakov Shaul Elyashar, the Rishon LeTzion, author of Yisa Bracha, whom Rabbi Shalom deeply revered as his primary rebbi and spiritual father. In this letter, Rabbi Shalom addresses the question of what is the proper and appropriate approach to the use of titles of honor for scholars and wealthy individuals: whether it is permissible to shorten titles for one who is deserving of them, and whether it is permissible to bestow titles upon one who is not deserving — something that had become prevalent in more recent generations, as he writes: “Titles have multiplied, while wisdom has diminished…” Rabbi Shalom explores the various aspects of this issue, including whether it involves a prohibition of flattery, and he brings proofs from the language of the poskim, demonstrating how they themselves formulated titles in their own correspondence. The Yisa Bracha responded to Rabbi Shalom on this matter with a teshuva that was printed that same year in his sefer Ma’aseh Ish (Choshen Mishpat, siman 10), where he rules that praising a talmid chacham with excessive praise contains “no element of flattery whatsoever.” In his response, the Yisa Bracha writes about Rabbi Shalom’s inquiry: “I have read your words, my friend — they are sound and correct, true in every sense; fortunate is the one who bore you!” Letters from Rabbi Shalom Hedaya from this period are exceedingly rare. The holy kabbalist Rabbi Shalom Hedaya (1864–1945) was one of the greatest sages and kabbalists of the Aleppo community — holy and separated from worldly matters, brilliant and profoundly knowledgeable in all areas of Torah, as is evident from the present letter. In 1887, he traveled to Eretz Yisrael for a short time and stayed in the home of the Yisa Bracha. In 1899, he returned and settled permanently in the Holy Land, where he joined the kabbalists’ yeshiva Beis El, and from 1927, he became its Rosh Yeshiva. From 1930, he also served as Raavad of the Sephardic community in Jerusalem. His son was the kabbalist Rabbi Ovadia Hedaya. In 1891, he nearly lost his eyesight, and in this letter, he refers to his treatment and recovery, attributing it to the merit of the prayers of the Yisa Bracha . Aleppo, 1892. A folded leaf comprising two large pages in Rabbi Shalom’s handwriting and signature. Page size : 20 × 25.5 cm. Condition : Good; a few small tears. On the blank leaf there is a missing tear where the letter was sealed, caused by its opening. Provenance: Archive of the recipient, the Yisa Bracha. -------------------------- The Humility of the Yisa Bracha Particularly remarkable are the words of the Yisa Bracha in his printed teshuva mentioned above, regarding the titles of honor used to describe him: “As for myself, a humble man, Heaven is my witness and the heights above testify — how my hair stands on end and all my bones tremble when I am described with titles of which I am not worthy, not even one in a hundred, in truth. I have already written that they should not ascribe such titles to me, yet my words were not heeded — and the One in the heavens is a faithful witness.” -------------------------- Rabbi Shalom Hedaya’s Question Printed in Ma’aseh Ish As noted above, the Yisa Brachah responded on 27 Nissan 1892 regarding the aforementioned subject, and this teshuva was printed that same year in his sefer Ma’aseh Ish, siman 10. Before the teshuva, Rabbi Shalom’s letter of inquiry on this matter was printed. In essence, it is identical to the present letter, but its wording and form are entirely different; it was apparently written on 10 Nissan, as the Yisa Brachah mentions at the beginning of his teshuva, whereas the present letter was written on 13 Nissan. At the beginning of his teshuva, the Yisa Brachah mentions the matter of Rabbi Shalom’s eyesight. This is not mentioned at all in the printed question, yet it appears explicitly at the beginning of the present letter. This may indicate that the Yisa Brachah was responding to both of Rabbi Shalom’s letters, though it is possible that this was written in the first question as well and was merely omitted from print. It is worth noting that at the very end of the printing of the sefer Ma’aseh Ish, after the indexes had already been set, a new question from Rabbi Shalom reached the printer. At the beginning of the sefer, Rabbi Shalom refers to the Yisa Brachah’s teshuva on our very subject, and the printer added it to the sefer because “they urged me to print it.” At the beginning of that new letter of inquiry, Rabbi Shalom writes: “My master, my light, avi, avi!