Request by Reb Yaakov Beker to the rabbis of the Va'ad Hakellali [Knesses Yisroel] of Jerusalem to receive ...

Request by Reb Yaakov Beker to the rabbis of the Va'ad Hakellali [Knesses Yisroel] of Jerusalem to receive support for saving his family from hunger, signed by Rabbi Naftali Hirtz Halevi Av Beis Din of Jaffa and by the representatives of the city committee of the town. Jaffa, [1898]. 

""Pity us and have mercy on us so we may not be lost ... write us down in your book of life since I too am of the sons of Avraham ... and we shall live and not die". A plea for help in a letter by a resident of Jaffa suffering from hunger, with approbations and signatures of [5] of the rabbis of the city. 

[1] leaf, 24 cm. Letter handwritten by Yaakov Beker, with and approbation and signature of [4] representatives of the city commuttee of Jaffa and its stamp and with an approbation, signature and stamp of the Rav of Jaffa Rabbi Naftali Hirtz Halevi. 

Yaakov Beker, Odessa-born, who moved to Galicia and approx. ten years later in ca. 1890, immigrated to Eretz Yisroel with his wife  on a ship that drowned on its way. They arrived penniless and did not manage to join any of the Kollelim of Eretz Yisroel. Lacking equity capital and a source of income and the right to enjoy the money of the Chalukah, the couple suffered hunger and lack of housing. His brother, Shlomo Odesser, lived at the time in the "Machaneh Yehuda" neighborhood of Jerusalem. 

Historical background: Since the 1880s, with the arrival of thousands of Jewish immigrants, the Jewish population of Jaffa increased immensely. This led in 1890 to the establishment of the committee of the leaders of the Jewish communities of Jaffa. The comittee was headed by the Rav of Jaffa, Rabbi Naftali Hirtz Halevi and its members included Meir Hamburger, Bezalel Hacohen Lupin and Shimon Rokach, who also signed this letter.  In the year it was established, the committee published a proclamation calling to receive outside help for supporting the many poor who came to Jaffa, after concluding that the residents of the small town did not have sufficient resources to support all these needy people. 

Rabbi Naftali Hirtz Halevi (1852-1902) a holy Gaon and Kabbalist, the first Ashkenazic Rav of Jaffa, born in Bialystok. At the age of thirty immigrated to the Holy Land, settling in Me'ah She'arim where he established a yeshiva. In 1886, he was sent by the Geonim Rabbi Shmuel Salant and Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin to serve as Rav of the Ashkenazic community of Jaffa. In 1891, the Ashkeanzic and Sephardic communities of Jaffa united and Rabbi Levi became the undisputable halachic authority on all matters of the Jewish Yishuv. 

Was famed as an uncompromising fighter for the purity of the community and the new Chareidi Yishuv and as a renowned kabbalist.

Fold marks, aging stains, ink stain, tears and gluings, blemished corner not affecting the text. Good general condition.  

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