Letter from R. Bendit Duschenes Rabbi of Leeuwarden - Regarding the Yeshiva in his City - Leeuwarden, 1844

Letter from R. Bendit Duschenes Rabbi of Leeuwarden - Regarding the Yeshiva in his City - Leeuwarden, 1844
Lengthy and interesting letter handwritten and signed by R. Baruch Bendit HaLevi Duschenes. Leeuwarden, Netherlands, [Cheshvan 1844].
Addressed to R. Tzvi Hirsch Lehren of Amsterdam (president of the Pekidim and Amarkalim, a relative of R. Bendit - "my relative… beloved to me like my father"). The main part of the letter discusses the reasons for the failure of the yeshiva in his distant city (at the northwesternmost point of the country, capital of the Friesland province). The letter contains historical information describing the methods of founding yeshivot in the mid-1800s in the Netherlands. It appears from the letter that most of the students that came to the city, and subsequently abandoned Torah study in favor of other activities, such as business or secular studies. R. Bendit explains that the failure to maintain the yeshiva did not stem from difficulties in providing for the students, since he succeeded in procuring "more meals than days of the week…" (in those days, the yeshiva provided for its students with "Teg" - "days", in the homes of wealthy residents, who hosted the students for meals once or twice a week). R. Bendit suggests to raise the standard of Torah study by bringing in students from Russian or Polish yeshivot. The end of the letter discusses the fundraising activities of the Pekidim and Amarkalim on behalf of Eretz Israel Jewry.
R. Baruch Bendit Duschenes (the second), rabbi of Leeuwarden (d. 1886, Otzar HaRabbanim 4189), leading Dutch rabbi in the 19th century. In 1851, he was appointed president of the Pekidim and Amarkalim. He was a descendant of R. Baruch Bendit HaLevi Horowitz-Duschenes of Prague, rabbi and dean of Nijmegen (d. 1803, Otzar HaRabbanim 4190), who was the father-in-law of R. Avraham Moshe Lehren of the Hague - father of R. Tzvi Hirsch and R. Akiva Lehren of Amsterdam, founders and heads of the Pekidim and Amarkalim society which administrated Eretz Israel funds.
[1] double leaf (closely written on both sides). 25.5 cm. Light wear and tears.