Long halachic response on laws of kiddushin - betrothal. By Rabbi Meshulam Zalman Ha-Cohen, Rabbi of Feurda, author of Bigdei Cehuna.
The entire letter is in his handwriting and bears his signature. (On page 6, there are lines over the writing, and it says on top, "this whole page was erased, and it belongs to the above --- pasted".
This response, regarding kiddushin – betrothing a wife - by means of a key, is cited in Bigdei Cehuna (Even Ha'ezer, Chapter 17). However, the content and wording in the present letter differ slightly from the citation in the book, and our manuscript would seem to be an earlier version.
Rabbi Meshulam Zalman Ha-Cohen, Rabbi of Feurda and Dean of the Feurda Yeshiva (1739-1820, Otzar Harabbanim 15735) was one of the giants of his generation and a well-known tzaddik, one of the leading students of Rabbi Yonatan Eibshitz. Author of Shut Vichiducshei Maharzan, Bigdei Cehuna, Mish'an Hamayim and more.
His disciple Rabbi Wolf Hamburg wrote of him: "Nearly all of the scholars in our region are his disciples… he enlightened the eyes of his students in halacha, until his old age… for 14 years he did not lie down and barely slept, such was his toil in Torah…for many years he wore a belt of sack-cloth and bore the pain of Israel's suffering in its exile".
With his passing, his place as Rabbi and dean of Feurda was offered to the Chatam Sofer. (See Chut Hameshulash pages 81-84, which quotes a letter from the Chatam Sofer on this matter). See more about him in enclosed material.
8 pages, 33 cm, densely written (about 40-50 lines a page), very good condition, slightly worn edges.