Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller

Mikhteve ha-Rabanim ha-Geʼonim de-Arʻa de-Yisraʼel ʻal ha-Yeshivah ha-Gedolah "Ohel Torah" Bet David (The Letters of the Great Rabbis: Daraa Israel, on the Great Yeshiva "Ohel Torah Beit David") [W/ AN ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPH]

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Jerusalem: "Ohel Torah" Beth-David/ Ohel Torah-Bet David, [1939]. First edition. Softcover. Octavo. [1] 7pp. (vii) 16pp. Printed tan staple-bound wrappers with black lettering on the covers. This scarce publication was published on the occasion of tenth anniversary of the noted Yeshiva (Kollel) Ohel-Torah Beit David, in Jerusalem. The work contains a collection of writings including approbations and short essays from many prominent rabbis in Palestine at the time, and major figures associated with the yeshiva. The publication contains text from such famed rabbis such as Abraham Isaac Kook, Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog (1888-1959) and the school headmaster Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman, among many others. The approbation which is credited to the yeshiva's "committee" is here translated into English and French, with all the other text in Hebrew only.

Bound in at the front is an original silver gelatin photograph (6 3/4 x 4 1/2") displaying the then current members of the of the yeshiva. The image has a tissue guard and is mounted on heavy stock textured paper. Shown in the image are prominent rabbinic figures and scholars such as Rosh Yeshiva (headmaster) Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman (1868-1953), vice-president Gedaliah Silverstone (1871-1944), Ephraim Ze'ev Garbuz (1903-1959), Aharon Bilostotzki, and treasurer Ephraim Schiff, as well as early images of soon to be prominent Rabbis in their youth, including Shmuel HaLevi Wosner (1913-2015), Sholom Schwadron (1921-1997), Binyamin Yehoshua Zilber (1916-2008) and Baruch Yitzchak Levin (1910-1989) among many others.

Originally founded circa 1930 in the Kerem neighborhood of Jerusalem (later moving to Rehavia), by Rabbis Isser Zalman Meltzer and Moshe Mordechai Epstein, the Ohel-Torah Beit David yeshiva subsequently became known as among the most prominent in the country, and produced a whole generation of highly acclaimed scholars and Rabbis. In the 1930s Chief Rabbi of Palestine (and later Israel) Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog became closely involved with Ohel Torah and taught there. In 1934 Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman became the Rosh Yeshiva. It has been see a seminal institution in the development of modern conception of the Kollel, and has been highly influential.

Text mostly in Hebrew, with English and French translations of some content.

Wrappers with some age toning and water stains to the covers. Light chipping to extremities. Interior with age toning to pages. Some tearing the protective tissue guard. Book coming loose from wrappers at the back cover. Book block tight overall. Wrappers in good-, interior in good+ condition overall. Protected by modern mylar. Quite scarce. g- to g+. Item #48175

Full Hebrew title: מכתבי הרבנים הגאונים דארעא דישראל על הישיבה הגדולה אהל תורה בית דוד
Publication: ירושלם: אהל תורה.

Price: $450.00