The Earliest Document about the Purchase of Nachalat Shiva "Mother of the Neighborhoods of Jerusalem", Handwritten ...

The Earliest Document about the Purchase of Nachalat Shiva "Mother of the Neighborhoods of Jerusalem", Handwritten by the Founder of the Neighborhood, Rabbi Yosef Rivlin - 1866 - Historical Item!
A contract relating to the purchase of land in the "Nachalat Shiva" neighborhood and its division among the partners. The complete contract is in the handwriting of the founder of the neighborhood Rabbi Yosef Rivlin. Jerusalem, the 3rd of Tamuz (16.6) 1866. A most important historical item.
This is the earliest document we know of relating to Nachalat Shiva. The purchase of the land was made at the end of Sivan (June) 1866. The document before us was written about a month after the first purchase and it concerns the division of the land to the partners, who were among the most important activists of Jerusalem and were known for their great contribution to the settlement of the Land of Israel.
The document opens: "to be evidence that the partners had purchased the known land" and mentions four of the buyers: Reb Aryeh Leib Lomzer Horowitz, Reb Binyamin Beinesh Salant, Reb Michel Ha'Cohen and Reb Yoel Moshe Solomon, and "their faction".
The contract is written in the first person in the handwriting of the head of the builders of Jerusalem, the courageous Rabbi Yosef Rivlin, the first and foremost pioneer who devoted himself to the building of the country.
Documents in the handwriting of Rabbi Yosef Rivlin are extremely rare, all the more so about such an important issue: the outset of the great enterprise of settling the Holy Land by building new neighborhoods in Jerusalem and new settlements such as Petach Tikvah.
The document before us, which has never been printed and is completely unknown, is the earliest document of this historical movement of leaving the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem and the founding of the agricultural settlements in the Land of Israel!

In the book "Mosad Ha'Yesod" the following is told: "the success of the Nachalt Shiva neighborhood was the major factor of the first agricultural settlement Petach Tikvah and a factor of the mass immigration from abroad in 1873". Dr. Avraham First (in his book "Yerushalayim Ha'Chdasha") wrote: "this decision and action, of founding Nachalat Shiva, was a great surprise for the people of that generation, crucial and of great implications for the future…"
The purchase of the land of Nachalat Shiva and its first days are shrouded in fog. Historians disagree in their description of this period due to the fact that there are very few documents from these first years. Thus the importance of the document before us, which is undoubtedly a most important revelation regarding the building of New Jerusalem.
In books reviewing the history of Nachalat Shiva (among them "Reshit Ha'Yishuv Michutz Le'Chomot Yerushalayim" by Yosef Yoel Rivlin, Jerusalem 1939) it is written that the first land was purchased in 1866 by Rabbi Yosef Rivlin and his friends; the purchase, however, failed and only in 1967 an additional one was made by Ester Horowitz (as follows) and that land was named "Nachalat Shiv". However, according to the unknown, historical document before us, the above description is totally mistaken: the seven well-known founders of the neighborhood, including Reb Yoel Moshe Solomon and Reb Michel Ha'Cohen, were already part of the first purchase of the land and already then, the buyer of the land from the Arabs was Ester Horowitz! Thus, it goes without saying, that the document before us is a revolutionary revelation in the history of Nachalat Shiva.
We know that the document had been kept for dozens of years in the archive of the Rabbi of Jerusalem, Rabbi Shmuel Salant, until his death. The reason for this is explained in one of the early documents of the members of Nachalat Shiva: "We have chosen our rabbi and teacher … Rabbi Shmuel Salant to be the trustee of our cooperative society and all proceeds of our society …. Will be given to Rabbi Shmuel Salant and to support the matter he has accepted this job and anyone who gives our society a loan to build houses, Rabbi Salant will guarantee that the money be returned to him …and any monetary disputes will be resolved according to Rabbi Salant's ruling". It should be noted that one of the seven founders was Rabbi Binyamin Beinesh Salant, the son of Rabbi Shmuel Salant. Another of his sons, Rabbi Yehuda Leib, also purchased land in the neighborhood in 1871.

The building of Nachalat Shiva
The Nachalat Shiva neighborhood was the first Jewish neighborhood built outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem in 1869. Th eneighborhood was named after the first seven pioneers who had founded it: Rabbi Yosef Rivlin (who for two years had lived in the neighborhood by himself), Reb Yoel Moshe Solomon, Rabbi Chaim Ha'Levi Kovner, Rabbi Yehoshua Yellin, Rabbi Leib Horowitz of Lomza, Rabbi Michel Ha'Cohen and Rabbi Binyamin Beinesh Salant. To a large extent, the leader of the group was Rabbi Yosef Rivlin, who explained the goals of the society and its regulations in the founding booklet of Nachalat Shiva, which was handwritten by him (in handwriting identical to that of the document before us).
The organization of the youth of Jerusalem to build a neighborhood outside the walls of the Old City started in 1866. At the beginning of that year, there was an outbreak of the cholera epidemic in Jerusalem, which caused the death of many. The difficult situation forced the young people of the Old Yishuv, who lived in the Old City, to fulfill as soon as possible the vision of the Vilna Gaon - to expand the boundaries of Jerusalem beyond the walls of the Old City (the vision is described in detail in the writings of Rabbi Yosef Rivlin). To do so, they founded a cooperative society named "Nachalat Shiva" which purchased lands outside the walls, the lands referred to in the document before us.
Indeed, two neighborhoods preceded Nachalat Shiva (Mishkenot Sha'ananim and Machane Yisrael). However, they had been built only as charity enterprises to help the poor. In any case, for many years the houses of these neighborhoods stood deserted for fear of the Arabs and wild animals. Nachalat Shiva, in contrast, was built for ideological reasons of settling the country and expanding Jerusalem. The building of the neighborhood was to be the first link in a chain of neighborhoods that were to be built after it. The founders of Nachalat Shiva were idealists who wanted to bring Redemption (Geulah). The building of Nachalat Shiva was considered a courageous act of pioneering, which required self-sacrifice of its seven founders. It constituted a new method of settling the country: by establishing a cooperative society based on mutuality. It was the first society whose funds came from the settlers themselves and not from the donations of Jews abroad.
Thus, the neighborhood became known as "the first neighborhood of New Jerusalem", as described by Avraham Moshe Luncz, the explorer of the Holy Land.

The importance of the neighborhood
The building of Nachalat Shiva ended in 1874. Since that year, new neighborhoods were continuously built around the Old City of Jerusalem. The development of Jerusalem thus actually began with the purchase of the lands of Nachalat Shiva, which is described in the document before us, which is the earliest in the history of the neighborhood.
The importance of Nachalat Shiva as the foundation stone of the settling of the country and the Zionist enterprise was described by the most prominent historians of the period: "Had it not been for the first push to leave the boundaries of the Old City and fearlessly build the Nachalat Shiva neighborhood, maybe today we would not have the developed Tel Aviv" (Chaim Michel Michlin).

The purchase of the land in the name of Ester Horowitz
In addition to the founders of Nachalat Shiva, the document before us mentions a woman named Ester, whose story is most interesting.
The purchase of land for building the neighborhood was not a simple matter: the pasha refused to write the deeds in the name of the seven founders of Nachalat Shiva since they were foreign citizens. Therefore, Aryeh Leib Horowitz sent his wife, who was born in Hebron and had Turkish citizenship. She spoke fluent Arabic and dressed like the Arab women. She covered her face with a scarf according to the Arabic custom and went to the government house. There she negotiated with the government while declaring that the land was designated for "sowing wheat for Matza". Indeed, the Mufti ordered not to prevent giving a deed to a woman born in the country and the land was registered in her name. A short while later, the land was registered in the name of the true seven buyers.
There was another reason for hiding the identity of the true buyers and the true reason for buying the land. The seven founders feared that the Arab landlords in the Old City will plot against them if they knew of the plan to leave the Old City. Ester was sent to make the purchase in her name so that the seven founders will not have to identify themselves when they come to register the land at the offices of the Turkish government.

Rabbi Yosef (Yosha) Rivlin
Rabbi Yosef Rivlin (1836-1896), the great grandson of Rabbi Hillel Rivlin of Shklou, author of "Kol Ha'Tor", was one of the leaders of the Jewish community in the Land of Israel during the years 1866-1896. He founded the "Va'ad Ha'Kelali Knesset Yisrael" which was the supreme institution of the Jewish community in the Land of Israel and headed it for thirty years.
Rabbi Yosef Rivlin was one of the builders of the country. He spurred his friends to leave the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem and build new neighborhoods in Jerusalem. He was the driving force of the foundation of the first settlements. His total devotion derived from his following the doctrine of the Vilan Gaon and his disciples regarding "Ha'Ketz Ha'Meguleh".
His figure was most impressive: he was knowledgeable in Torah and kabbala and a scholar who combined body and soul. Rabbi Shmuel Salant called him "a supporting pillar". He wrote religious poems based on the Torah and Torat Ha'Geulah, which Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Ha'Cohen Kook said of them: "Genius and rare art, a fountain of wonderful ideas…". The most prominent kabbalists of Jerusalem also praised these poems (see the introduction of the book "Pizmonei Reb Yosha Rivlin"). These poems reflect his great knowledge of kabbala and the doctrine of the Vilna Gaon. Indeed, his activity for the building of the country was based on Torat Ha'Geulah of the Vilna Gaon.
"At the same time he was dealing with buying lands from Arab farmers, speaking their language and working on the building of houses, he relied only on holy indications in the bible and the Sages, various signs, and we have seen that everything is from Heaven, since everything he does, God makes him succeed" (Rabbi Shmuel Pedro).
His flurry of emotions, stubbornness and patience, his willingness to risk his life for settling the country derived from his deep faith that he was the one chosen by Heaven to perform the task of fulfilling the dream of the Vilna Gaon and his disciples to build the ruins of Jerusalem.

Condition: Good. Restored tears.
Added is the book "Binyan Yosef" (Jerusalem, 2014) about the figure of Rabbi Yosef Rivlin and his efforts in building New Jerusalem.
Size: 21.5x24.5 cm.