Auction 48 Rare and Important Items
Dec 2, 2015 (Your local time)
Israel
 8 Ramban St, Jerusalem.
The auction has ended

LOT 32:

Long Letter Regarding Italian and Ashkenazi Communities – Handwritten and Signed by the Maharam Hagiz – 1732

catalog
  Previous item
Next item 
Start price:
$ 6,500
Auction house commission: 23%
VAT: On commission only
tags:

A long letter handwritten and signed by the renowned Rabbi Moshe Hagiz who signs: "Moshe Ze'ira (the small) of Jerusalem, called Hagiz". [Hamburg?], Tamuz 1732.
The letter, sent to Italy to "the mighty influential men… the leaders of the generation", is about public matters related to "the entire diaspora", including rabbinic decisions regarding the leadership of the communities and the distribution of the national tax burden among the various communities. Mentioned in the letter: Rabbis of the communities of Verona, Venice and Ancona, the "Va'ad HaGadol" and the "Va'ad HaKaton", and names of Italian and Ashkenazi communities. Rabbi Moshe Hagiz suggests presenting the claims before an outstanding Torah scholar who will determine the law. He adds that the matters must be decided "according to truth and justice without giving preference to any person".
The content relates that the matter discussed in this letter concerns "the entire diaspora" – many communities from various countries, and that they must receive rulings from various rabbis: "To send them the ruling of the Torah scholar of the Posen community who is the father-in-law of Rabbi Ya'akov Av Beit Din of Emden, because he governs more than 300 communities and time is necessary to gain his support…" [Rabbi Ya'akov Mordechai Katz, son of the author of Semichat Chachamim who was appointed Rabbi of Posen in 1732. He was the father-in-law of the Ya'avetz who in 1732 served as Av Beit Din of the city of Emden and in 1733 left the rabbinate and moved to Altona]. He also mentions the "ruling of the Av Beit Din of the three communities Altona, Hamburg and Wandsbek with the approbation of all three Batei Din and the students of his lofty glorious yeshiva". [Rabbi Yechezkel Katzenelbogen, author of Knesset Yechezkel, served as Av Beit Din of the three latter communities from 1713-1749].
At the end of the letter, he mentions "the ruling of the Av Beit Din of the Ashkenazi community here that I wrote above to accept”. [In those days, two communities existed in Hamburg, Ashkenazi and Sephardi].
The renowned Torah scholar Moshe Hagiz was born in Jerusalem in 1672, son of Rabbi Ya’akov Hagiz, author of Halachot Ketanot. After his father died, in his childhood, he was raised in the home of his illustrious grandfather, Rabbi Moshe Galanti “HaRav HaMagen”. Was a disciple of the leading Sephardi sages of Jerusalem and of his celebrated brother-in-law Rabbi Moshe Ibn Chaviv [son-in-law of Rabbi Ya’akov Hagiz], and exceptionally proficient in Halachic and Kabbalistic knowledge. He used to sign “HaManiach” [“the Young Moshe Ibn Hagiz”] or HaKemach [“the small Moshe Hagiz”]. During the times he travelled abroad, he would sign: “Moshe Ze’ira of Jerusalem called Hagiz” (as he did in his signature on this letter).
In 1794, his grandfather, Rabbi Moshe Galanti, who was the head of the rabbis of Jerusalem, died and the Maharam Hagiz was sent as an emissary on behalf of the Jews of Eretz Israel to Egypt and elsewhere in the diaspora. His exile lasted 40 years during which he travelled throughout Europe and resided in Livorno, Venice, Amsterdam, London, Emden and Hamburg. In the course of those years, he became used to writing in Ashkenazi script [primarily due to the printing of his books in Amsterdam and in Ashkenazi countries and to his correspondence with European rabbis].
He was involved in rabbinical issues and many important rabbis valued his opinion in Halachic and public matters. He is known for his unswerving opposition to the Shabtai follower Nechemya Hayun from Amsterdam in conjunction with the Chacham Zvi and the Ya’avetz which later forced him to move from Amsterdam to London and then to Germany, where he remained for over 20 years. In the framework of this struggle, in 1814, he printed various polemic pamphlets in Amsterdam, London and Berlin: Igeret HaKna’ot, Edut L’Yisrael, Milchama L’Hashem, Shever Poshim, etc.
He authored many books on Halacha, mussar and Kabbalah. In 1704, he began to print his book Leket HaKemach on the Shulchan Aruch in Venice and the complete edition in Amsterdam in 1707. Other books: Ele HaMitzvot on the 613 mitzvot (Amsterdam, 1797 and a revised edition in Wandsbek, 1727), Leket HaKemach on the Mishnah (Wandsbek, 1726), Tzror HaChaim, mussar and prayers (Wandsbek, 1728), Mishnat Chachamim on Pirkei Avot (Wandsbek, 1733), Shtei HaLechem responsa (Wandsbek, 1733), etc.
His teachings also appear in many books in which he printed the Torah novellae of his father, grandfathers and teachers, adding his own additions, glosses and introductions, signed “The Meniach said”. Some of the books he printed with his additions are Or Kadmon, Korban Chagiga by his grandfather Maharam Galanti, Halachot Ketanot responsa of his father, Mahari Hagiz, printed in Venice in 1703-1704, Zevach Shelamim by his grandfather Maharam Galanti, Ha’Idrot HaKedoshot, Sefer Kritot, Orach Mishor by his father the Mahari Hagiz, printed in Amsterdam 1708-1709, and many other books which he edited or for which he wrote an introduction [see article by M. Benayahu: Books written by R’ Moshe Hagiz and books he published, Elei Sefer, Vol. 2, 1976, pp. 154-160].
In 1738, he returned to Eretz Israel and resided in Tzidon and in Safed. Reports regarding the year of his death and his gravesite contradict each other. The Chida in Shem HaGedolim writes that he arrived in Tzidon in 1738 and died in Safed in 1760, near the age of 90. (See: Shem HaGedolim, Ma’arechet Gedolim, Ot 40, 123). According to a different version, he died around 1750. According to the opinion of Luntz (Yerushalayim, Year 1, 1882, pp. 119-120), he left Safed for Beirut to recover from an illness, died there and was buried in Tzidon.
Three written pages, approximately 20 cm. Fair condition, ink erosion to paper, professionally restored. (Some of the text is difficult to read due to ink reflection on verso).
The entire letter is handwritten by the Maharam Hagiz (Ashkenazi writing). His signature appears in the center of the second leaf, eight lines from the bottom.

catalog
  Previous item
Next item