Emissary Letter for Rabbi Yechezkel Eliezer Abulafia - Signatures of Tiberias Torah Scholars - With a Description ...

Emissary Letter for Rabbi Yechezkel Eliezer Abulafia - Signatures of Tiberias Torah Scholars - With a Description of the Locust Plague - Tiberias, 1832
Emissary letter for R. Yechezkel Eliezer Abulafia, who travelled to Italy on a mission on behalf of the Tiberias community, signed by the Torah scholars of the city. Tiberias, [1832]. Neat scribal script. At the foot of the letter, the calligraphic signatures of the Tiberias Torah scholars: R. Yosef David Abulafia, R. Yehuda Nechmad, R. Yissachar Abulafia, R. Avraham Ashkenazi, R. Chaim Shmuel HaKohen, R. Yosef ibn Gabbai and R. Aharon Alchadif. The rabbis of Tiberias portray the difficult state of the Jews residing in the city, the starvation afflicting them due to a locust plague and the large debts weighing on the community: "We have been struck, and all our money has been taken, and all that remains is our bodies and lands… and our most recent misfortune is the famine, the likes of which has never been in the past, since locust attacked last year and devoured all greenery, and our eyes witness helplessly the sorrow of Torah scholars, orphans and widows, and we have no power to assist…". The scribe left a blank space at the head of the letter for inserting the name of the community the emissary would be approaching. This space was later filled-in in a different handwriting: "Vercelli" (Italy). The letter was folded and sent to the Vercelli community (the address was inscribed in Italian of the verso). R. Yechezkel Eliezer Abulafia (d. 1859) was a leading Tiberias Torah scholar, emissary of the Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities in the city. He was the son of R. Michael Refael Shabtai Abulafia, and a descendant of R. Chaim Abulafia, who reestablished the Jewish settlement in Tiberias. Just like his father, he travelled as an emissary on behalf of the Tiberias community. Another emissary letter for him from 1827 is known, also addressed to Italian cities (see: Yaari, Shluchei Eretz Israel, p. 647). The mission extended until 1835, and this letter was written and sent during the course of this mission. A year prior, in 1831, R. Yechezkel Eliezer printed the book Ben HaMelech VehaNazir in Livorno. [1] double leaf. 32 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, folding marks.