LETTER OF BADATZ (ULTRA-ORTHODOX COURT OF JUSTICE) IN JERUSALEM ABOUT RECRUITMENT TO THE TURKISH ARMY, AUGUST 1914

A printed letter sent to the heads of the communities in Israel from Badatz Jerusalem about the obligation to join the Turkish army at the beginning of World War I. In the letter, the rabbis announce the decision of rabbis and leaders in Jerusalem to redeem the youth recruited to the army by collecting a sum from every Jew in Israel. The sum is the weekly salary of that Jew. The sum collected was designated also to help support the families of the recruited.
In the letter, the rabbis ask the directors of the institutes to detail the salary of each and every functionary in their institution and to send the sum to the messenger – Rabbi Zanvil Shpitzer, a known Jerusalem activist, who delivered this letter to the directors.
The letter is signed by three Lithuanian rabbinical judges, with the stamp of the Lithuanian Badatz as well as three Hassidic rabbinical judges, with the stamp of the Hassidic Badatz.
At the end of the letter there is a voucher that can be torn off, to be filled by the directors of the institutes and given to the messenger Rabbi Shpitzer together with the sum of money: "In reply to your letter … we hereby declare that the weekly salary of the functionaries in the institution directed by us is the amount of ... which is hereby disclosed…".
A fascinating, rare historical document.
35.5x30 cm.
Good condition, signs of folding.