Auction 87 - Jewish and Israeli Art, History and Culture

Including: sketches by Ze'ev Raban and Bezalel items, hildren's books, avant-garde books, rare ladino periodicals, and more

The Zionist Congresses, 1920s to 1940s – Collection of Ephemera – Mizrachi Representative Rabbi Moshe HaMeiri Ostrovsky

Opening: $300
Sold for: $375
Including buyer's premium

Collection of ephemera from the estate of Rabbi Moshe HaMeiri Ostrovsky, a delegate representing the Mizrachi organization at the 12th through 22nd Zionist Congresses; includes Congress postcards handwritten by Ostrovsky, the organization's platform and demands at the congresses, photographs from the congresses, and more. Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad), Zurich, Prague, Basel, Lucerne, and additional locations, 1920s to 1940s (several later items). Hebrew, some German, Czech, and other languages.


Collection includes:
• Three large photographs of the 12th Congress in Carlsbad (1921; two photos of the delegates gathered in the assembly hall, and a composite of portraits of all delegates to the Congress).
• Letter addressed to the executive council of the 18th Congress (Prague, 1933), from the "Office of the Sabbath in the Land of Israel" – request to read before the Congress the memorandum issued by the "Office of the Sabbath" ("We hereby appoint our honorable member Rabbi Moshe Ostrovsky to serve as our loyal emissary to faithfully execute the following"). Hand signed by Simcha Assaf, Moshe Seidel, and Shmuel Klein.
• Printed page with a list of the demands of the Mizrachi organization to be put before the 18th Congress, relating to the observance of the Sabbath and of the laws of kashrut in Palestine.
• Three postcards – two of them official Congress postcards – handwritten by Ostrovsky and addressed to his family, containing updates from the proceedings of the 16th Congress ("Dr. Bergson rained fire and brimstone upon us"); 17th Congress ("Today is when the arguments will be breaking out"); and 22nd Congress ("I am writing this letter from the dais of the Congress").
• "Platform of the Mizrachi and HaPoel HaMizrachi organizations at the 22nd Congress in Basel" (1946), three typewritten pages: a detailed listing of the Mizrachi's positions at the final congress before the establishment of the State of Israel, addressing such issues as the partition plan, the call for a boycott of the London (Palestine) Conference, the appointment of Dr. Chaim Weizmann as Honorary President of the Zionist Movement, and more.
• Delegate's ticket to the 18th Congress bearing Ostrovsky's name; seven "One [Zionist] Shekel" notes issued in the 1920s and 1930s; two different official file folders from two of the congresses, issued to congress participants; report presented to the 19th Congress on behalf of the Central Office for the Settlement of German Jews in Palestine (with a booklet of photographs by German-Jewish photographer Lou Landauer); and more.

27 items. Size and condition vary. Overall good condition.


Enclosed: Four "One [Zionist] Shekel" notes issued in the 1950s and 1960s; official postcard of the 23rd Zionist Congress (1951).

Zionism
Zionism