Auction 89 - Rare and Important Items
Collection of Notebooks, Notes and Draft Letters – Mrs. Farha Sassoon (Feuchtwanger) and Family – Letters from Farha Sassoon to Her Teacher Rabbi Dessler, and Her Torah Notebooks
Opening: $2,000
Estimate: $3,000 - $5,000
Sold for: $2,500
Including buyer's premium
Collection of notebooks, notes and draft letters of Mrs. Farha (Flora) daughter of R. David Solomon Sassoon (later Feuchtwanger), including drafts of letters to her teacher R. Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler. [England, ca. 1920s-1930s].
The collection includes:
• Over 150 letters and draft letters, mostly from Mrs. Farha Sassoon, addressed to members of her family and others, and some addressed to her, including letters from her father R. David Solomon Sassoon, addressed to her and to her brother R. Solomon David.
• 6 Torah notebooks of Mrs. Farha Sassoon, as well as dozens of leaves with Torah notes. One of notebook is inscribed: "This book belongs to the young Farha David Sassoon, Rosh Chodesh Adar II 1921", another notebook states: "Farha David Sassoon, 21st Shevat 1928 – Lashon HaKodesh, homiletics, etc.". A third notebook (from Tevet 1928) is entitled: "Book of novellae by Farha David Sassoon".
• Drafts of letters which Mrs. Farha wrote to her teacher R. Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler.
Mrs. Farha (Flora) Sassoon, daughter of the famous philanthropist, researcher and collector R. David Solomon Sassoon. She was raised together with her only brother, R. Solomon David Sassoon, in the Sassoon family estate in London. She later married R. Asher Feuchtwanger (rabbi of Letchworth, England, author of Asher LaMelech). Farha and her brother studied in their youth under R. Dessler, and maintained close ties with him over the years.
R. Dessler moved to London from Lithuania in the late 1920s. Several months after his arrival, he received the position of synagogue rabbi in the East End, and some time later, he began teaching the children of the Sassoon family, following the recommendation of R. Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman, rabbi of London, to Mr. David Sassoon who sought a suitable tutor for his two children. Farha was fifteen years old at the time, and Solomon David fourteen. R. Dessler became their private teacher while upholding his position as synagogue rabbi, and would travel three times a week to the Sassoon family estate in the luxurious neighborhood of Mayfair, London. The present draft letters highlight the close relationship the Sassoon children shared with R. Dessler. In her letters, Farha shares all her experiences with R. Dessler, writing to him on a variety of topics. She addresses him as "my teacher and mentor". In one letter, she relates that she is trying to keep to her study quotas, listing her achievements: "…two hours every morning, I have studied so far by heart until chapter 5, Mishnah 3 of tractate Berachot, I am also studying 2 leaves of Kitzur Shulchan Aruch and reviewing 3 mishnayot in Yoma every day".
Approx. 200 paper items. Size varies. Overall good condition.
The collection includes:
• Over 150 letters and draft letters, mostly from Mrs. Farha Sassoon, addressed to members of her family and others, and some addressed to her, including letters from her father R. David Solomon Sassoon, addressed to her and to her brother R. Solomon David.
• 6 Torah notebooks of Mrs. Farha Sassoon, as well as dozens of leaves with Torah notes. One of notebook is inscribed: "This book belongs to the young Farha David Sassoon, Rosh Chodesh Adar II 1921", another notebook states: "Farha David Sassoon, 21st Shevat 1928 – Lashon HaKodesh, homiletics, etc.". A third notebook (from Tevet 1928) is entitled: "Book of novellae by Farha David Sassoon".
• Drafts of letters which Mrs. Farha wrote to her teacher R. Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler.
Mrs. Farha (Flora) Sassoon, daughter of the famous philanthropist, researcher and collector R. David Solomon Sassoon. She was raised together with her only brother, R. Solomon David Sassoon, in the Sassoon family estate in London. She later married R. Asher Feuchtwanger (rabbi of Letchworth, England, author of Asher LaMelech). Farha and her brother studied in their youth under R. Dessler, and maintained close ties with him over the years.
R. Dessler moved to London from Lithuania in the late 1920s. Several months after his arrival, he received the position of synagogue rabbi in the East End, and some time later, he began teaching the children of the Sassoon family, following the recommendation of R. Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman, rabbi of London, to Mr. David Sassoon who sought a suitable tutor for his two children. Farha was fifteen years old at the time, and Solomon David fourteen. R. Dessler became their private teacher while upholding his position as synagogue rabbi, and would travel three times a week to the Sassoon family estate in the luxurious neighborhood of Mayfair, London. The present draft letters highlight the close relationship the Sassoon children shared with R. Dessler. In her letters, Farha shares all her experiences with R. Dessler, writing to him on a variety of topics. She addresses him as "my teacher and mentor". In one letter, she relates that she is trying to keep to her study quotas, listing her achievements: "…two hours every morning, I have studied so far by heart until chapter 5, Mishnah 3 of tractate Berachot, I am also studying 2 leaves of Kitzur Shulchan Aruch and reviewing 3 mishnayot in Yoma every day".
Approx. 200 paper items. Size varies. Overall good condition.
Manuscripts and Letters – Ashkenazi Rabbis
Manuscripts and Letters – Ashkenazi Rabbis