Ordination for a Shochet on Vellum from Rabbis of Hebron and Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein - Hebron and Jerusalem ...

Ordination for a Shochet on Vellum from Rabbis of Hebron and Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein - Hebron and Jerusalem, 1932 - Mentions Yeshivat Chevron and the 1929 Riots
Vellum leaf with a letter of ordination for the shochet (ritual slaughterer) R. Yehuda Leiber Hirshovitz, a student in Yeshivat Knesset Yisrael in Hebron. The letter is written by a scribe and signed by R. Chaim Bejaio, "Slaughterer for the Sephardic community in Hebron". [Hebron], 1932. The leaf also contains an interesting letter, handwritten and signed by R. Yaakov Yosef Slonim, rabbi of Hebron, attesting to the skills of both R. Bejaio and R. Hirshovitz. [Jerusalem, 1932]. On verso is an ordination, handwritten and signed by R. Moshe Mordechai Epstein. [Jerusalem], 1932.
R. Chaim Bejaio (1873-1960) was the last shochet who remained in Hebron after the riots in 1929, and became the leader of the families who remained there until the riots of 1936. R. Yaakov Yosef Slonim refers to him in the above letter as "One of the professional slaughterers in Hebron; the sole remaining shochet of the rabbis and slaughterers in Hebron who were killed during the terrible pogrom…" R. Slonim also writes about R. Hirshovitz: "I also know [R. Hirshovitz] personally… he was an outstanding student in the famous Yeshivat Knesset Yisrael-Slabodka in Hebron, and he has thoroughly learned ritual slaughter from my deceased friend, R. Moshe Goldshmidt, (killed in 1929), who was shochet of the Ashkenazic community".
R. Yaakov Yosef Slonim (1880-1938) was rabbi of the Chabad community, founder of Yeshivat Torat Emet in Hebron. After the riots of 1929, during which much of his family was murdered, he moved to Jerusalem, but continued to sign his letters "rabbi of the Ashkenazic community of Hebron".
R. Moshe Mordechai Epstein (1866-1934) was the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Knesset Yisrael in Slabodka (Vilijampolė) as well as rabbi of the city. In 1925, he led a group of students to the Holy Land, where they established the yeshiva in Hebron. After the 1929 riots the yeshiva moved to Jerusalem. R. Epstein was the author of "Levush Mordechai".
The receiver of the ordination, R. Yehuda Leiber Hirshovitz (1901-1980), was the grandson of R. Eliezer Gordon of Telz (Telsai, Lithuania), and son of R. Yitzchak Isaac Hirshovitz. R. Yehuda was renowned as a Torah scholar as well as for his notable good-heartedness. He lived in Tel Aviv and Bnei Brak.
1 vellum leaf (written on both sides). 40 cm. Rolled as a scroll. Good condition. The letter of R. Epstein is indistinct (from being written on the outside of the vellum). The bottom margin is cut asymmetrically.