Auction 66 Rare and Important Items
May 15, 2019 (Your local time)
Israel
 8 Ramban St, Jerusalem.

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LOT 73:

Letter of Salvations – Handwritten and Signed by the Baal Shem of Michelstadt, Rabbi Zekel Leib Wormser – ...

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Sold for: $32,000
Start price:
$ 18,000
Estimated price:
$30,000-50,000
Auction house commission: 23%
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Letter of Salvations – Handwritten and Signed by the Baal Shem of Michelstadt, Rabbi Zekel Leib Wormser – Michelstadt, 1821
Letter (13 lines) handwritten and signed by the kabbalist R. Zekel Leib Wormser – the Baal Shem of Michelstadt. Michelstadt, 1821.
Addressed to R. Mordechai Reis of Braunschweig. The contents of the letter are somewhat enigmatic, yet seem to indicate that the recipient had written to the Baal Shem in quest of counsel and salvation on behalf of someone whose wife was pregnant. The Baal Shem instructs him to attach a mezuzah to his hat as an amulet, and blesses him that G-d should send him salvations. The letter is signed: "Zekel Leib son of R. Matityah, who resides here". At the foot of the letter, the Baal Shem of Michelstadt added several lines regarding his dire financial straits, and his difficulty in providing for his family and for the students of his yeshiva. He seeks the advice of the recipient, asking if he should write an appeal letter for himself to the "Community leaders and the community", adding that he awaits his reply and counsel: "And immediately upon receiving your reply, I will do as you wish and recommend. So are the words of the aforementioned".
On the verso of the letter, beside the address, a postmark of Erbach (town adjacent to Michelstadt), and wax seal of the Baal Shem of Michelstadt, inscribed: "Yitzchak Aryeh known as Ze[kel L]eib son of R. Matityahu".
R. Zekel Leib (Yitzchak Aryeh) Wormser (1768-1848) – the Baal Shem of Michelstadt. A scion of the Luria family, from the family of the Maharshal and Rashi, and a descendant of R. Eliyahu Baal Shem of Loans – the Baal Shem of Worms. In his youth, he studied under the kabbalist R. Natan Adler in Frankfurt, later returning to his hometown Michelstadt, where he served as rabbi of the town and the vicinity, and established his Beit Midrash, as well as a yeshiva which attracted many students. He was renowned as a righteous man and wonder-worker, earning him the appellation Baal Shem. Many flocked to him in quest of cures and salvations, even from other countries, and numerous people experienced salvations through his blessings, segulot and amulets. This letter was likewise written to a Jew from a distant region (Braunschweig – northern Germany, some 350 km north of Michelstadt).
He was widely acclaimed by Jews and non-Jews alike. Reputedly, German soldiers who prayed by his gravesite during WWI all returned from the battlefield healthy and well. The Michelstadt municipality posted a memorial plaque on the house he lived in, dubbing him "a friend of the people". His novellae and writings were published in the book Baal Shem MiMichelstadt (Machon Yerushalayim, 2006).
[1] double leaf. 27.5 cm. High-quality paper. Good condition. Folding marks and stains. Marginal wear.

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