7 Letters of Halachic rulings by Eminent, Moroccan Rabbis.

7 Letters of Halachic rulings by Eminent, Moroccan Rabbis.

1. Halachic ruling regarding neighbors and fences that was ruled in the city of Fez, 1900.

Signed by the Rabbis of Fez, Rabbi Shlomo Sassoon and Rabbi Yehuda HaTzarfati.

2. Business partnership matters, and monetary partnership matters, in the city of Tetouan, 1921.

The Dayanims’ signatures were obliterated.

3. A contract between a Jew and Arab on monetary matters.

4. An approbation from Masoud Asulin of Fez, on a Bet Din contract regarding monetary matters, 1926.

5. Contracts of a widow and widower, written in the books of the Bet Din of Fez, Morocco.

6&7. Two exceptionally rare letters sent from South America to Morocco in 1912!

 As early as the end of the nineteenth century, Jews began to travel with ships loaded with merchandise to Peru and Chilli in South America, as well as to Madeira and Manaos in Brazil.

These rare letters, were sent to Shlomo Chatuel in Morocco,

from his brother, David.

The Judaica library in Yale University, United States has similar letters from Jews, written in the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Upon their arrival in Peru and Chile, these Jews established small communities of traders. The documents housed in Yale University, record business dealings between Jews in South America and Jews in Morocco.

The first letter was sent from the village Madeira, Brazil, on November 5th, 1912. Shlomo Chatuel relates in this letter to his brother David, about his wellbeing; he arrived well, is settled in a hotel and is generally satisfied. Apparently, from there, he continued his journey on to Manaus.

The second letter was dispatched from the village of Manaus, Brazil on November 27th, 1912. Here David relates that he continued on to Manaus and all is well.

These two letters are possible the only existing documents from these two places, providing us with unique historical information, unobtainable from any other source.