"Elaka DeMeir Yaanenu" - Large Parchment Certificate - Rabbi Yaakov Chai Lubaton's Certificate of Appointment as ...

"Elaka DeMeir Yaanenu" - Large Parchment Certificate - Rabbi Yaakov Chai Lubaton's Certificate of Appointment as Emissary - Tiberias, 1914 - Signed by Dozens of Tiberias Torah Scholars
"Elaka DeMeir Yaanenu" (G-d of Meir will answer us) - large parchment certificate - letter of appointment for R. Yaakov Chai Lubaton, leaving on a mission on behalf of the Kollelot of Tiberias to Iraq, Iran, Kurdistan, Syria, Turkey and the surrounding regions, signed by 54 Torah scholars and rabbis of the city. Tiberias, Tammuz 1914.
Calligraphic Oriental square and semi-cursive script, on a large parchment sheet, with a rounded top. Words and sentences emphasized in large square script.
R. Yaakov Chai Lubaton, a Torah scholar in Tiberias at that time, was appointed through this certificate as emissary of the Tiberias community. The certificate lists the cities he is headed for, including the cities of Kurdistan, Greater and Lesser Persia, Damascus, Beirut, Sidon, Antioch, Aleppo, Kilz, Ein Tab, Urfa, Mosul, Nusaybin, Auroville, Zakho, Akar, Koy Sanjaq, Kirkuk, Baghdad, Baqubah, Diyarbakir, Basra, Bushehr.
At the foot of the certificate, 54 rabbis and Torah scholars of the holy city of Tiberias affixed their signatures, as follows:
First line: R. Eliyahu Illouz, R. Menashe Hamawi, R. Yaakov Chai Zrihen, R. Pinchas Refael Toledano, R. Moshe Dweck, R. Akiva Chiya Behlul, R. Eliyahu Adahan, R. Shmuel Ben Kiki, R. Yaakov Vaknin, R. Moshe Ifrah, R. Yitzchak Legrabli, R. Mimoun Ravuah, R. Eliyahu Melamed, R. Machlouf Chetrit, R. Masoud Adahan, R. Yehuda Toledano.
Second line: R. Yaakov Toledano, (undeciphered), (undeciphered), R. Yaakov Ben Tzuri, R. Yaakov Chai Berdugo, R. Mordechai Adahan, R. Yehuda Chai [--?], R. Moshe Avraham Hamawi, R. Eliyahu Avigdor, R. Mordechai Benamozegh, R. Shimon Nachmani, (undeciphered), R. Nissim Toledano, R. Yichye Abuchatzeira, R. Shalom Malka, R. Ben Tzion Rachamim Behlul, R. Betzalel Malka, R. Avraham Nachum [--?].
Third line: R. David Chai Bohbot, R. Bechor Avraham Elkoubi, R. Mordechai Refael Ohana, (undeciphered), R. Yaakov Abitbol, R. Yosef Alon, R. Shimon Abadi, R. Refael Azrad, R. Shmuel Assabag, R. Azariah Chaim HaLevi, R. Yosef Chaim Illouz.
Stamps of R. Refael Bibas, R. Elazar Behlul, R. Yitzchak Shalom Mizrahi, and others.
On verso of the certificate, two authorizations, one signed and stamped (and perhaps also handwritten) by the chief rabbi of Tiberias R. Chaim Yissachar Abulafia, confirming that he is appointing R. Yaakov Chai Lubaton as emissary "with the authority received from the government". This authorization is followed by another inscription from the Tiberias rabbis, dated 1921, explaining that due to the war and "the tribulations of this period", the emissary was delayed in his mission until that time, and that they are hereby renewing his appointment. This inscription is signed by R. Yaakov Chai Zrihen, R. Eliyahu Illouz, R. Moshe Ifrah, R. Yehuda Toledano, and another signatory (some with a handwritten signature, and some with a stamp reproducing their signature).
Large parchment certificate. Maximum height: 78 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains and creases. Several tears. Two open tears to parchment, close to signatures. Several signatures faded.