אגרת שד"רות לרבי יהודה נחמד – טבריה ודמשק, תקצ"א – חתימת רבי חיים נסים אבולעפיא

Letter of emissary appointment for Rabbi Yehuda Nahmad, signed by the sages and rabbis of Tiberias. Tiberias, 1831. On the reverse side of the leaf, a letter of appointment for Rabbi Avraham Antebi, signed by Rabbi Yehuda Nahmad, with an addition in manuscript and the signature of the Gaon Rabbi Haim Nissim Abulafia. Damascus, [1831?]. Rabbi Yehuda Nahmad was sent as an emissary (shad"ar) to Syria and Aram Tzova. In the letter given to him by the sages of Tiberias, the dire situation of the city's Jewish community due to a severe drought is described: "…for in this year of evil there was wrath and calamity and sorrow, for the Lord God did not send rain upon the land, and rain was not poured upon the earth, to bring forth bread from the earth… and the famine is heavy in this land… the affliction of sorrowful souls, those stricken by hunger, the poor and the destitute, orphans and widows, and many Torah scholars — more than a hundred Jewish souls who have no bread to eat, that thing upon which life depends, infants who asked for bread and there was none to break for them…". The signatories were: Rabbi Elazar Ibn Danan, Rabbi Haim Dweik HaKohen, Rabbi Shlomo Alfasi, Rabbi Shmuel Bekhor Alkalai, Rabbi Moshe Ben Simhon, Rabbi Ya'akov Toledano, and Rabbi Zion Bounan. Due to his old age and illness, Rabbi Yehuda Nahmad was unable to continue his mission and travel from Damascus to Aram Tzova, and he therefore appointed in writing Rabbi Avraham Antebi, together with the rabbis Rabbi Matlub Menashe Stehon and Rabbi Yitzhak Shalom. In the margin of the letter of appointment, Rabbi Ḥan"a — Rabbi Haim Nissim Abulafia, who was then in Damascus — added several lines in honor of Rabbi Yehuda Nahmad, who had been his deputy in the rabbinate of Tiberias [the Gaon Rabbi Haim Nissim Abulafia, 1795–1861, rabbi of Tiberias; in 1855 he was appointed Rishon LeZion in Jerusalem]. Rabbi Yehuda Nahmad (died 1847, Otzar HaRabbanim 7031), one of the leading rabbis of Tiberias, a member of the court of Rabbi Haim Nissim Abulafia, traveled as an emissary of Tiberias in 1803 to the cities of Morocco. Some thirty years later, the mission whose details appear before us took place [this mission was unknown to Avraham Ya'ari and was not recorded in his book Sheluḥei Eretz Yisrael — see attached material]. One leaf. 30 cm. Fair condition, two large tears in the center of the leaf with damage to the text, stains and wear. Expert certificate attached.