Auction 89 - Rare and Important Items
Letter handwritten and hand-signed by Theodor (Binyamin Ze'ev) Herzl, written in the course of his first journey to meet the Ottoman Turkish Sultan Abdul Hamid II. Constantinople (today Istanbul), June 25, 1896. German.
Brief handwritten letter personally signed by Theodor Herzl, on the thin stationery of the elegant Hotel Royal; signed "Herzl." Here, Herzl writes that his departure for London will be delayed: "The Sultan passed word onto me yesterday, that I might stay here a few more days; perhaps he has something to tell me. Therefore, my departure is delayed […] All further details [will be delivered] verbally."
A similarly worded account of Herzl's experience in Constantinople appears in his personal diary: "Yesterday the Sultan sent me word that I should not leave today; he would probably have something to say to me before my departure. This is a success – though an uncertain one" (The Complete Diaries of Theodor Herzl, Vol. I, p. 392; see below). The actual reason the Sultan requested that Herzl delay his departure from Constantinople is not indicated in the diaries.
The present letter may have been addressed to Rabbi Simeon Singer (1846-1906), mentioned in Herzl's diaries as the person who came to meet him upon his arrival in London, following Herzl's failure to be granted a substantive meeting with the Sultan.
Herzl's 1896 visit to Constantinople
Beginning in the 1890s, Theodor Herzl embarked on an earnest and unrelenting search for a solution to the suffering of the Jewish people in the Diaspora. The first attempt to advance the realization of his dream – the creation of a modern state for the Jewish people – was made in 1896, with his planned meeting with the Sultan of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, Abdul Hamid II, in Constantinople. Herzl intended to present the Sultan with an attractive offer: Jewish tycoons and wealthy financiers would contribute handsomely to relieve the Ottoman Empire's heavy debts to Europe, and in return the Sultan would grant the Jewish people a charter over the historical Land of Israel.
The rare and extraordinary meeting was organized with the help of a mediator, Philip Michael de Newlinsky (1841-1899), an exiled, disillusioned, and disenfranchised Polish aristocrat. Having despaired over the state of affairs in his own motherland, he became something of a self-appointed diplomat-for-hire. He agreed to accompany Herzl on his journey and enable the latter to benefit from his connections with "the Supreme Gate" (the name given to the central authority of the Ottoman Empire, located in Constantinople).
On July 15, Herzl boarded the Orient Express train in Vienna. In Budapest, he was joined by Newlinsky. He reached Constantinople on July 17, following a two-day train ride. In an attempt to create the impression that he had unlimited funds at his disposal, he chose to stay at Constantinople's highly prestigious Hotel Royal, notwithstanding the fact that he had not yet begun to accumulate the sums of money required to sustain the proposals he was about to present to the Sultan.
Immediately upon his arrival, Herzl began intensively lobbying every individual he could locate with ties to the wheels of power, including Prime Minister and Grand Vizier Halil Rifat Pasha. But senior officials expressed serious reservations about his proposed program, insisting that it was against their principles to sell any territory.
Notwithstanding the disappointing responses of the senior officials, Herzl clung to the belief that the success of his visit would be decided entirely on the basis of a face-to-face meeting with the Sultan. He stayed in Constantinople for a total of eleven days; as stated, he managed to meet with numerous senior officials of the "Supreme Gate" whose demeanor was generally friendly, albeit sceptical. But he was never granted a meeting with the Sultan. A brief meeting did take place between the Sultan and Herzl's envoy/mediator, Newlinsky, whereupon the latter was informed of the Sultan's rejection of Herzl's proposal. To sweeten the bitter pill, Abdul Hamid announced that Herzl would be awarded a medal of honor, of the Order of the Medjidie, Third Class. The Sultan also uttered a vague commitment regarding a future arrangement in which the Jews would be granted at least some of the lands in question: "The Jews are intelligent; they will find some acceptable formula" (The Complete Diaries of Theodor Herzl, Vol. I, p. 400; see below).
Herzl's visit to Constantinople was only an initial step, but it served to place him on the world diplomatic stage; it helped reinforce his status as leader of the Zionist movement and spread his message among the members of the movement. In May, 1901, Herzl would finally succeed in meeting face-to-face with the Sultan, and this was in fact a lengthy meeting. Here, once again, he was awarded a medal, this time of the Order of the Medjidie, First Class – Turkey's highest honor. But once again, even though Herzl himself considered the meeting a success, it did not bring about the desired result: a charter enabling Jews to settle in the Land of Israel.
[1] f. (folded in half; one handwritten page), 23 cm. Good condition. Fold lines and creases. Stains. Few small tears to verso (blank side).
References:
• Amos Elon, "Herzl, " Am Oved, Tel Aviv, 1975, Hebrew, pp. 220-24. (English edition published by Schocken, 1985.)
• Shlomo Avineri, "Herzl, " Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History, Jerusalem, 2007, Hebrew.
• Theodor Herzl, "The Issue of the Jews: Diaries 1895-1904," Vol. I, Bialik Institute publishing house, Jerusalem, 1997, Hebrew.
• Theodor Herzl, "The Complete Diaries of Theodor Herzl, " edited by Raphael Patai, translated by Harry Zohn, Herzl Press and Thomas Yoseloff, New York and London, 1960.
This portrait ("Bildnis Theodor Herzl" – "Portrait of Theodor Herzl"), was created following a meeting between Hermann Struck and Theodor Herzl in May 1903. Struck – an ardent Zionist from a young age – returned to Europe after travelling Palestine, whereupon he met with Herzl at his home in Vienna. In the course of the meeting, Struck sketched a series of drawings of Herzl, and later used these drawings to create the portrait. Struck met Herzl again a few months later at the Sixth Zionist Congress (August 1903), at which time Herzl asked Struck to lend him a number of the early copies of the etching so that he could sign them.
The noted art historian Karl Schwarz, the first director of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, related as follows to the image of Herzl as it appears in the present etching: "Evidently, the artist aspired to create an idealized image of one of the prophets of Israel, and in this endeavor he succeeded fully. Theodor Herzl lives in the hearts of us all in that portrait rendered by Struck the artist; this was the picture of Herzl par excellence – the visionary utterly absorbed in his life's mission, with his eyes gazing toward the future" ("Hermann Struck, The Man and the Artist, " pp. 30-31, Hebrew).
Following Herzl's passing, Struck made use of the drawings he had made to create two additional etchings depicting Herzl, but the present portrait is widely regarded as the finest and most noteworthy: " Within a brief period, this etching had become so well known that it came to be viewed as something akin to a symbol of Zionism, especially after the charismatic leader's death in 1904. At that time, it won the hearts of all the Zionist circles. Up until the establishment of the State of Israel, this portrait of Theodor Herzl would serve as a virtual embodiment of all of Zionism. It became a permanent fixture, adorning every Zionist event at every venue" ("Hermann Struck, Master Printmaker, " p. 38, Hebrew).
Etching: 35X45 cm (sheet: approx. 45X56 cm). Good condition. Browning to paper. Few stains. Minor blemishes. Numbered in pencil in bottom right corner. Mounted on cardboard, matted and framed.
References:
• "Hermann Struck, Master Printmaker, " exhibition catalogue, The Open Museum, Tefen Industrial Park, 2007. Hebrew. pp. 38 and 83.
• Yitzhak Mann, ed., "Hermann Struck, The Man and the Artist." Dvir, Tel Aviv, 1954. Hebrew. pp. 30-31.
Silver (marked; hallmarks faded); enamel.
At the center of the ring is an oval-shaped medallion bearing a profile portrait of Theodor Herzl, facing left, framed with pale-blue-and-white enamel inscribed with the (Hebrew) words "Realization of the Balfour Declaration." The ring also bears the date "5th of Iyar 5680" [April 23, 1920], on either side of the medallion. The inscription is in reference to the resolution of the San Remo Conference (April 1920) granting the United Kingdom a mandate over Palestine on the basis of the Balfour Declaration, wherein Great Britain's leadership declared that "His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people…"
The Balfour Declaration – one of the most significant milestones in the annals of the Zionist movement and the re-establishment of Jewish self-determination in the Promised Land – found expression in all aspects of 20th-century Jewish culture, and perhaps most conspicuously in the plastic arts. From the masters of the Bezalel School and the preeminent art schools of Europe down to anonymous folk artists from the multifarious far reaches of the Jewish Diaspora, Jewish and Zionist artists began producing paintings, prints, vessels, sculptures, pieces of jewelry, functional objects for daily use, and sacred or ritual articles – all in the spirit of the Zionist ethos and infused with emotional uplift, in anticipation that the prophetic dream of the Return to Zion might be realized someday soon. The present ring is of a piece with an entire line of jewelry, ritual objects, and functional and decorative objects, all bearing the image of Theodor Herzl, visionary father of the Jewish State, and commemorates an important landmark on the road to the realization of that very dream.
Diameter: approx. 20 mm. Good condition. Minor warping. Minor scratches.
The letter is addressed to Queen Victoria in the name of 255 Jews who immigrated to Safed from the Russian Empire, and request the protection of the British Crown.
Three micrographic ornaments adorn the top of the letter: a crown consisting of Psalms, with the inscription "Keter Meluchah" at the base; flanked by two hands raised in priestly blessing, comprised of the words of the prayer for the monarch, with the name of the queen – Victoria. The text of the letter is flanked by verses from Yeshaya, lettered in gilt.
In the letter, the Jews of Safed relate that they have been left stateless as a result of the decree issued by Czar Nicholas I in 1848, pronouncing that those absent from Russia for more than half a year would lose their Russian nationality.
The same decree allowed Jews to apply to representatives of other European countries in Palestine for protection, and the British consul James Finn gave the Safed residents a written commitment to grant them the status of British protégés, though he later retracted his commitment. The letter describes the rejoicing of the Jews upon receiving this note from Finn, and the sense of security it gave them, and conversely their distress when it was retracted. In order to settle their status, and with the hope of gaining the protection of the British crown, the Jews of Safed sent their representative, Rabbi Mordechai Halevi, to the British embassy to plead the case of the poor, destitute Jews who left their homeland to settle in the Holy Land and devote themselves to the worship of G-d.
As the consul Finn writes in his book Stirring Times, most of the Russian Jews in Palestine eventually did become British protégés. He even brings the English translation of a letter on parchment received from the Jews of Safed in July 1849, thanking the queen for her protection.
56X40 cm. Fair-poor condition. Stains, including minor dampstains and traces of mold. Open tears due to ink erosion, affecting text. Fold lines and creases (slightly affecting text). Tears to folds and margins. Reinforced with acidic tape on verso and in margins (partially detached); dark tape stains to length and width of leaf.
Hebrew title at the top of the leaf in fine calligraphic script. This is followed by the text of the sermon delivered by R. Moshe Zeiger Charag on the occasion of the 39th birthday of Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria, celebrated by the Jews in the synagogues with prayers and candle lighting.
Emperor Franz Joseph I was very well-regarded by the Jews, in light of the wide-ranging freedom and many civil rights they enjoyed during his long reign, something unprecedented in the Austrian and Austro-Hungarian empires. This sympathy is well reflected in the text of the present sermon, which is full of admiration for the emperor and praise of his mercifulness. R. Zeiger even states that since the destruction of the temple, there have never been times of liberty and freedom of religion like these. Signature of R. Moshe Zeiger Charag, and stamp of Kollel Austria at the end of the sermon.
R. Moshe Zeiger Charag (d. 1909), public figure and prominent member of the Safed Chassidic community. A leading trustee of Kollel Austria, and confidant of Rebbe Mendele, the Tzemach Tzadik of Vizhnitz. He married the granddaughter of R. Gabriel Tshak (hence the name Charag – Chatan R. Gabriel). One of his grandsons was the artist Yosef Tzvi Geiger (a stamp of his estate appears at the foot of the leaf).
Approx. 46X34 cm. Fair condition. Fold lines and creases. Stains, including dampstains. Minor ink smudges. Closed and open tears to margins and folds (slightly affecting text). Reinforced with acidic tape on verso and margins; dark tape stains to length and width of leaf.
Letter of appreciation and praise in German, dedicated to the Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire – Franz Joseph I, and to his son, Crown Prince Rudolf; with mention of the marriage of Rudolf with Princess Stephanie of Belgium (daughter of Leopold II King of Belgium).
Hebrew verses in gold and crimson surround the German text.
The letter is signed (in Latin characters) by: • R. Yissachar Dov Berisch Lüstman of Sanok, Lviv trustee of Kollel Austria. • R. Moshe Zeiger Charag (d. 1909), public figure and prominent member of the Safed Chassidic community. Head of the Kollel Austria trustees, and confidant of Rebbe Mendele, the Tzemach Tzadik of Vizhnitz. He married the granddaughter of R. Gabriel Tshak (hence the name Charag – Chatan R. Gabriel). One of his grandsons was the artist Yosef Tzvi Geiger. • R. Chanoch Zundel Fogel, rabbi of the Vizhnitz Chassidim in Safed (previously rabbi of Oyber Visheve). • R. Yaakov son of R. Mordechai Fridfertig of Rozniatow, Vizhnitz trustee of Kollel Austria. • R. Yehuda Leib Krauthamer of Kolomyia, Kosov trustee of Kollel Austria. • Two additional, unidentified signatories ("Efrina ---", "J--- Waidberg"). With the stamp of Kollel Austria.
At the time this letter was signed, Crown Prince Rudolf (1858-1889) was on a hunting and research trip in Palestine and Egypt (the prince travelled around the country, yet did not visit Safed itself). At the time of the trip, which he embarked upon hastily, Rudolf had been betrothed to Princess Stephanie for over a year, and their wedding ceremony was therefore delayed until the end of May that year, after his return from the trip.
Approx. 54X38 cm. Fair condition. Folding marks and creases. Stains. Minor closed and open tears to margins and folds (slightly affecting text). Reinforced with strips of acidic tape on verso and margins; dark tape stains to length and width of leaf.
1. A "Shanah Tovah" New Year's greeting card to Baron Mayer Rothschild, from the Jerusalemite author Rabbi Ben Zion Shlez. Jerusalem, 14th Elul (September 3), 1887.
Greeting card printed in gilt ink. In the center are illustrations of synagogues and holy sites in Palestine – arranged in the shape of a rose – including Rachel's Tomb, the Cave of the Patriarchs, Tomb of the Prophet Samuel, Tombs of the Kings of the House of David, the Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue, "The Synagogue and Study Hall above the Tomb of Rabbi Meir Ba'al HaNess, " "The New Synagogue in the Hurva of Rabbi Yehuda HeHassid, " and "The Sephardi Synagogue from the Time of Rabbi Yohanan Ben Zakai." Inscribed in handwriting on the greeting card are the name of the addressee, "the Nobleman… Greatest of the Greats, Caring for the Welfare of his People, Splendor of the Nation, Crown of the Jews, Caretaker of Zion … the Baron MayerAlphonse [sic] de Rothschild"; the name of the sender, Rabbi Ben Zion Shlez of Jerusalem; and the date. At the top of the page is the biblical excerpt: "When a man taketh a new wife…" (Deuteronomy 24:5). Inside the card is a greeting in the form of a lengthy poem, written on the occasion of a wedding – perhaps that of one of the Baron Rothschild's daughters.
[1] f., folded in half, 29 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Creases and fold lines. Tears and several small holes to margins and to lengths of fold lines (mostly minor; two strips of adhesive tape for reinforcement). Matted, by means of three strips of adhesive tape.
2. Printed vellum sheet containing the text of a greeting delivered by Tel Aviv City Council to Edmond (Binyamin) James de Rothschild, "the Baron Rothschild." "Tel Aviv near Jaffa, " Shevat (January-February) 1914.
Vellum sheet in scroll-like format containing the printed text of a (Hebrew) greeting delivered by the Tel Aviv City Council to the Baron Rothschild on the occasion of his first visit to the city: "To our brother, greatest among his brothers, to Binyamin ben Ya'akov Baron de Rothschild… You are most welcome!... A blessing have you brought [with you] to the Land, and a blessing should you take from her… Small and meager was the Jewish community in the Land of Israel thirty years ago, when you arrived to rain upon it your generosity. And you bestowed upon it your silver and your gold, and above all else, your pure soul, your Hebrew heart. And behold, the good seed you have sowed, with your great strength and the goodwill of your pure heart, has borne plentiful fruit…"
This greeting to the Baron Edmond (Binyamin) James de Rothschild (1845-1934) was written in whole or in part by the author and journalist Mordecai Ben Hillel Hacohen (1856-1936), one of the founders of Tel Aviv and one of its earliest inhabitants. The greeting was written on a vellum scroll and presented to the Baron enclosed in a silver case, specially made by the silversmith Moshe Avraham Sokolka. In his memoirs, Ben Hillel Hacohen retells the story of the presentation to the Baron Rothschild: "The Baron disembarked from his ship, and did Tel Aviv the honor of spending the night [there], in [Menahem] Sheinkin's house… At the entrance to the courtyard, an honor guard was posted in the person of the hero of Petah Tikva, Avraham Shapira, with a long, curved sword dangling from his belt… The following morning, pupils from all the schools passed by the house, accompanied by their teachers, and the band played… The [City] Council of Tel Aviv presented a letter of greeting. I was entrusted with preparing the letter, and it was written on parchment, and the silversmith [Moshe Avraham] Sokolka handed it in an artistically made silver case" (see Mordecai Ben Hillel Hacohen, "Olami" , Vol. 5, Defus Poalim, Jerusalem, 1928/29; Hebrew).
Approx. 61.5 cm. Fair condition. Stains. Creases. Small holes, closed and open tears (mostly to margins; two open tears causing damage to text). Matted, by means of five strips of adhesive tape.
Provenance: The Yitzhak Einhorn Collection.
Collection of both printed and handwritten papers documenting the establishment of the first homes in Tel Aviv by a group of sixty-six founding families. These include a letter of mutual guarantorship signed by some forty founding individuals; deeds of purchase of lots; and papers documenting the expansion of the city in its early years (Allenby St., Levinsky Market), and more. Tel Aviv and additional places, first and second decades of the 20th century (one document from the 1920s; most documents from years 1909-10). Hebrew and additional languages.
1-10. Ten original contracts for the purchase of lots in Ahuzat Bayit (original name for Tel Aviv, also known as "Kerem Jabali"), 1909-10:
Five home building contracts and five rental contracts instituted between the founders of Ahuzat Bayit and the Dutch Jewish banker Jacobus Henricus Kann, registered as Ahuzat Bayit's official landowner. The contracts were signed in the process of purchasing lots in Ahuzat Bayit. In order to circumvent an Ottoman law which prohibited the sale of land to non-Ottoman subjects, these contracts were drawn up as construction and rental contracts, and not as purchase agreements.
Printed contracts, filled in by hand, in the names of the following individuals: Akiva Arieh Weiss, managing director of Ahuzat Bayit; Yehuda Leib Matmon-Cohen, founder of the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium; the farmer Dov Berger; the businessman Yaakov Elhanan Litwinsky; Yaakov Matalon; David Livni Weisbord, founder of Tel Aviv's Great Synagogue; and the businessmen Yitzhak Hayutman and Matityahu Winokur. Most of these contracts bear the signatures of the abovementioned founding fathers of Tel Aviv, as well as the signature of Zalman David Levontin, manager of the Anglo-Palestine Bank.
11-20. Ten official documents of the "Ahuzat Bayit" / "Tel Aviv" Association for the establishment of a Jewish city, all signed by the association's members who participated in the so-called "Seashell Lottery" and thus came to be recognized as the founding fathers of Tel Aviv:
• Two signed forms: Confirmation from two of the founders regarding the building of houses in Tel Aviv. January 1910. Signed by the founders Yisrael Yehuda Adler (house on Ahad Ha'am St. N0. 26) and Yitzhak Arieh Eliovson (house at the corner of Herzl St. and Rothschild Blvd).
• Handwritten letter dated May 23, 1910: Notice to Zalman David Levontin regarding the sale of lots situated behind the newly established Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium, hand signed by Meir Dizengoff, Ben Zion Mossensohn, and David Izmozhik. Written on the official stationery of the Ahuzat Bayit Association. The name of the association, "Ahuzat Bayit, " originally printed in the corner of the sheet, is erased, and the name "Tel Aviv" appears handwritten in its place; this may represent the very first actual instance of the name "Tel Aviv" appearing at the top of an official document (the Association made the decision to officially change its name only two days earlier, on May 21, 1910). In the bottom margin is an official inked stamp; here too, "Ahuzat Bayit" is erased, and replaced with "Tel Aviv."
• Handwritten letter addressed to the Anglo-Palestine Bank, dated November 24, 1910: Guarantor's declaration on behalf of the member Matityahu Winokur (house built on Yehuda HaLevi St. No. 31) and all the other members of the association. Bearing the hand signatures of some 40 founding members, some of whose names do not appear on the original guarantorship document, referred to as the "Founders' Pact" and signed by all the families widely regarded as the founders of Tel Aviv.
• And more.
21-40. Additional documents and letters pertaining to the founding of Tel Aviv and its expansion in the early years.
Including: Notice regarding the sale of a plot of land, handwritten by Ahuzat Bayit's managing director, Akiva Arieh Weiss (1909); request to remit payment for the construction of a house to Avraham Hayim Chelouche (official form, hand signed by the founder Simcha Alter Gutman, 1909); documents pertaining to the establishment of new neighborhoods and areas, including a "commercial center" (known today as the Levinsky Market); a "new company" (today Allenby St.); a "center for craftsmen's workshops"; handwritten contract pertaining to the sale of the home of the founder Moshe Cohen to Raphael Mihakashwili (1912); and more.
Size and condition vary. Overall good to fair condition. Stains, creases. Tears, including several open tears, with several documents torn in half. Several documents with punch holes.
Also enclosed: Eleven letters addressed to the Anglo-Palestine Company, dated 1905-10, apparently dealing with land purchases and the establishment of other settlements (Rosh Pina, Ein Ganim, Qastina; two letters from the Odessa Committee).
Tel Aviv's Sixty-Six Founding Families
The idea of establishing a new Jewish city on the sands of Jaffa was first conceived in 1906 by a group of five individuals: the architect Akiva Arieh Weiss; the eventual mayor, Meir Dizengoff; the author David Smilansky; Yehezkel Danin; and Yitzhak Hayutman. Each of the five would claim "fatherhood" of the original idea. Together, these five people – widely regarded as "the founders of Tel Aviv par excellence" – established a collective association known as "Ahuzat Bayit, " and issued a promotional pamphlet that laid out their vision: "Just as the City of New York signifies the main gateway to America, so is it incumbent upon us to create an exemplary city, one that, someday in the future, shall be the New York of the Land of Israel."
The members of the association, numbering sixty families, gathered on a desolate sand dune north of Jaffa on April 11, 1909, and conducted a lottery as a means of assigning lots within the confines of the area envisioned as the site of the future city. The lottery was administered according to a novel idea devised by the association's managing director, Akiva Arieh Weiss; the names of the participants were written on white seashells in one pile, while the numbers of the lots were scrawled on gray seashells in a second pile, and individual shells were then selected at random by a child. The event is referred to in the annals of the Jewish Yishuv as the "Seashell Lottery."
The participants in the lottery all signed a paper – the so-called "Founders' Pact, " essentially a letter of mutual guarantorship – and the individuals listed in this document would come to be viewed as the "60 Founders of Tel Aviv." The names of these 60 founders are inscribed on a stone monument erected in the middle of Rothschild Boulevard, the site where the original lottery had taken place, on the occasion of Tel Aviv's 40th anniversary.
Six more families – who, for various reasons, were not included among the signatories of the Founders' Pact – would eventually be added to the list of founders, and thus today it is widely accepted that the City of Tel Aviv was established by sixty-six founding families.
In the beginning, the founders were unable to have their homes and plots of land listed in their own names, because Ottoman law prohibited, for the most part, the sale of land to non-Ottoman subjects. To circumvent this prohibition, the land was registered under the name of the Jewish banker Jacobus Kann, who as a Dutch subject, was more readily able to purchase the parcel of land in question; Kann was thus listed by the authorities as the official landowner.
The construction of the houses in Ahuzat Bayit began in 1909 along four streets – Yehuda HaLevi, Lilienblum, Rothschild, and Ahad Ha'am – divided by one main avenue, namely Herzl Street, which led to the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium. The first homes were completed in January 1910. In May of the same year, it was decided to change the name of the nascent city to "Tel Aviv."
Some 155 pages, handwritten by Moshe David Schub, founder of the "moshava" Rosh Pina; draft copies of chapters from the book "Zikhronot LiVeit David…" ("Memories of the House of David: Seventy Years of Labor in the Field of Redemption and Settlement"), along with the manuscript to the second part of the book, never published in Schub's lifetime ("Milhemet HaShihrur MeHa-Apotropsut" – "The Battle for Liberation from Guardianship"). [Palestine, ca. 1930s]. Hebrew.
Moshe David Schub (1854-1938) was the founder of two of the earliest "moshavot" ("colonies") in the modern Land of Israel, Rosh Pina and Mishmar HaYarden. His book of memoirs, in Hebrew, titled "Zikhronot LiVeit David…" ("Memories of the House of David…") contains what is considered to be one of the most important and comprehensive accounts to have survived regarding life in the days of the First Aliyah.
The present manuscript represents a second part of this same book; under the title "Milhemet HaShihrur MeHa-Apotropsut" ("The Battle for Liberation from Guardianship"), it relates to the period in the history of the moshava Rosh Pina when it was under the aegis of "IKA, " the Jewish Colonisation Association. This part was never published during the author's lifetime, and remained unknown for many years.
The manuscript includes texts of protocols contained in record books Schub managed to locate with the assistance of the moshava's secretary. Some of these recovered records were in poor condition (apparently, some of the books Schub used for copying the texts were subsequently lost). Among the items cited in the manuscript are the following: a lengthy letter addressed to IKA's director, Émile Meyerson, describing the situation of Rosh Pina's farmers and their orchards, and mentioning the place names of lands purchased by the farmers, including Hajis, Hajyar, Biriya, and Mt. Canaan; a number of letters sent to the moshava Rishon LeZion; numerous texts copied from minutes of meetings; and more. Schub adds his own comments, prefaces, and explanations to some of the copied texts, and these addenda serve to shed more light on the subject of life in Rosh Pina. Additional versions exist for two of the chapters in the manuscript.
Enclosed alongside the manuscript are a number of draft copies of chapters included in the first, published part of "Zikhronot LiVeit David"; these drafts differ somewhat from the published version, and sometimes contain unpublished segments; for instance, on the journey from Beirut to Palestine ("And it so happened that as the first families of settlers traveled from Beirut via Sidon and arrived at the village of Hulda, behold, one of the ‘halutzot' [female pioneers], wife of R. Moshe Rosenfeld, who was pregnant, was suddenly overcome with birth pangs, and, mazel tov, she gave birth to a daughter"); the struggle over control of Rosh Pina's water sources ("The Sheikh appeared, riding his noble mare, with his sword dangling by his side, and with him was a regiment of horsemen and infantrymen ready for war… and the battle broke out in full force, two heroes, bold in spirit and courageous of heart, encircled the Bedouin… and one of the farmers of Rosh Pina, hero of the day, shot a stone directly at the head of the Sheikh, such that the latter was knocked off his mare and fell to the ground, bleeding profusely"); a description of the workshop run by students of the Bezalel School during the First World War; an intriguing portrayal of the 1929 Palestine riots in Safed ("In the house of Dr. Margaliyot there was one young woman who took shelter […] behind a closet, and the murderers, upon entering the room, violently shattered everything in their path, but the young woman they could not find…"); and more.
Moshe David Schub (1854-1938), among the leaders of the First Aliyah and founder of Rosh Pina and Mishmar HaYarden. Friend of Theodor Herzl. Born with the name Moshe Yankovitz, to a Hasidic family from Moinești (Western Moldavia, Romania). Adopted the name "Schub" as an acronymic reminder of his first profession as a Jewish ritual slaughterer and examiner ("Shochet U-Vodek"). Established the "Society for the Settlement of the Land of Israel by means of Working the Soil" in 1881. One year later, in 1882, he arrived in this country, leading a group of roughly 30 families. Together, they established a Jewish agricultural settlement on the lands of the village of al-Ja'una ("Gei Oni"), and named it "Rosh Pina" (lit. "Corner-Stone"; the name was derived from the biblical verse "The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner", Psalms 188:22). Became the first director of the moshava Mishmar HaYarden, and the first teacher to follow the method of "Hebrew taught in Hebrew, " at a time when the dominant spoken language in the moshavot was Yiddish. Once Theodor Herzl's revolutionary book "Der Judenstaat" became available, he traveled to Vienna to pay a visit to Herzl, and a close friendship developed between the two. Indeed, Schub was among the people who came to greet Herzl when he arrived for his historic visit to Palestine in 1898, and accompanied him for the duration of his stay here. Moshe David Schub's books and other works represent an important historical source – on some matters, the lone source – with regard to the first years of modern Jewish settlement in the Galilee region.
Some 155 handwritten pages (roughly 120 tied together by a string). Size and condition vary (most leaves approx. 27 cm., some smaller). Overall condition good to good-fair. Stains and creases. Closed and open tears to edges (some reinforced with adhesive tape). Punch holes.
Also enclosed: • Four handwritten pages: biography of the physician Dr. Hayim Ya'akov Schub, son of Moshe David Schub, apparently handwritten by the latter. • Letter written by the editor Shlomo Avigdori, with a request to print excerpts from his book, in a booklet titled "BiSha'arei HaGalil" ("At the Gates of Galilee, " Tiberias, 1937).