Letter from Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Shklow, Disciple of the Gaon of Vilna – Jerusalem, 1823 – Call to Join ...

Letter from Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Shklow, Disciple of the Gaon of Vilna – Jerusalem, 1823 – Call to Join Immigration to Jerusalem, Led by the Emissary Rabbi Shlomo Pach

Letter (13 lines) handwritten and signed by R. Menachem Mendel of Shklow, disciple of the Gaon of Vilna. Jerusalem, Shevat 1823.
Call encouraging immigration to Eretz Israel, especially with the group arranged by the emissary R. Shlomo Pach [=Pituchei Chotam] of Jerusalem, who had travelled to Europe to gather a new group of immigrants wishing to settle in Jerusalem.
The letter contains a warm recommendation for R. Shlomo Pach, who as one of the first settlers in Jerusalem, was well suited to lead this immigration. The letter is signed: "Menachem Mendel son of R. B.B. [Baruch Bendit] of Jerusalem".

[1] leaf. 14.5X12.5 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, including dark dampstains. Wear and open tears (repaired), not affecting text.

Provenance:
1. Collection of R. Yehuda Leib HaKohen Fishman (Maimon), Jerusalem (see below).
2. Victor Klagsbald Collection, Paris-Jerusalem (see article by Dr. Aryeh Morgenstern, "HaAgadda LeVeit Rivlin", HaTzofeh, 9.11.1990).
3. Prof. Azaria Rein, the son-in-law of Victor Klagsbald, who was presented with the letter by his father-in-law.
This document was published by P. Grajevsky, MiGinzei Yerushalayim, XVI, Iyar 1931, p. 3, based on the (present) original letter, from the collection of R. Yehuda Leib HaKohen Fishman.

This letter was also published by A. Morgenstern, in his book: BiShlichut Yerushalayim – History of the Pach Rosenthal Family 1816-1839, Jerusalem, 1987, in the chapter: 34 Letters Sent by Disciples of the Gaon of Vilna in Eretz Israel and the Leaders of Chassidim to R. Shlomo Pach in 1817-1824, document 8, pp. 122-123.
Morgenstern writes about the Pach family's collection of documents: "In 1886, Y.D. Frumkin published in the Havetzelet newspaper two documents from a collection of dozens of documents and letters pertaining to the Jewish settlement in Eretz Israel in the 1820s. Most letters in the collection had been sent to R. Shlomo Pach, one of the first ten Ashkenazic settlers in Jerusalem, who served as emissary of Kollel Perushim to the coastal cities of Syria and Constantinople, and to the Jewish communities throughout Russia. During WWI, the collection was acquired by R. Yehuda Leib HaKohen Fishman (Maimon), and he allowed Pinchas Grajevsky to print some of them in his various booklets in the 1930s… it appears that after the establishment of the State of Israel, the collection was sold and the original manuscripts were scattered. 17 letters and documents were purchased by the National Library, and one by the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People. The rest of the letters are presently in the hands of private collectors, or lost" (Morgenstern, BiShlichut Yerushalayim, p. 100).

R. Menachem Mendel of Shklow (ca. 1740-1827), prominent disciple of the Gaon of Vilna, leader of the first immigration of disciples of the Gaon of Vilna to Eretz Israel, and founder of the Ashkenazi Perushim community in Jerusalem. He attended the Gaon of Vilna in the final two years of his life, and received much Torah and Kabbalah from him. In describing this special period in his life, R. Menachem Mendel attests how he did not budge from the presence of the Gaon of Vilna, and how the latter opened up for him the gates of wisdom. He composed and edited several works of the Gaon of Vilna, such as the famous commentary on Mishlei, the commentary on the Passover Haggadah, and the glosses to Seder Olam. After the passing of his teacher, R. Menachem Mendel undertook the editing and publication of some of his manuscripts, including parts of the Gaon of Vilna's commentary to Shulchan Aruch. He served as rabbi in Khislavichi.
In 1808, he led the first group of disciples of the Gaon of Vilna that immigrated to Eretz Israel. He first settled in Tiberias, and later in Safed. In 1816, he relocated to Jerusalem, where he reestablished the Ashkenazi community. After much effort, he obtained building permits from the Turkish authorities to renovate the Hurva synagogue, and succeeded in raising funds to cover its old debts to the Arabs (only in Elul 1864 was the Hurva synagogue inaugurated, after many delays).
R. Menachem Mendel was especially famous for his deep, lofty understanding in Kabbalah, and during his time in Eretz Israel he composed several profound Kabbalistic works. His disciple, R. Yisrael of Shklow, writes in his introduction to Pe'at HaShulchan of these works and their author: "A close disciple of our holy master, my friend… the pious, great, famous Kabbalist R. Menachem Mendel of Jerusalem, author of ten holy books on the hidden Torah in manuscript" (Pe'at HaShulchan, Introduction, Safed 1837). Some of these works were published in 2001 under the title Kitvei HaGramam, and others were printed in the series Beurei HaRamam (Machon HaGra, Jerusalem-New York, 2012-2013) and in Mishnat Chassidim (Machon HaGra, Jerusalem-New York, 2006; new edition, Jerusalem-New York, 2021). These works of his on Kabbalah are also mentioned on his grave on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem: "The Kabbalist, famous Gaon in his generation, R. Menachem Mendel Ashkenazi, who established the foundations of Torah and service of G-d in the Holy Land, and authored the book Razei DiMeheimnuta…".
In Jerusalem, R. Menachem Mendel would sit throughout the day wrapped in his tallit and tefillin, studying Torah in holiness and purity. On Erev Shabbat, he would go outside the city to delve in Kabbalah in seclusion. In his writings, he describes heavenly visions and Torah secrets revealed to him, and how the soul of his teacher the Gaon of Vilna would appear to him to clarify Torah secrets, at the Western Wall, at Rachel's Tomb, and on the Mount of Olives. The elders of Jerusalem would relate that R. Menachem Mendel was capable of locating the ashes of Moshe's red heifer; that every year, on the 9th of Av, he would see two black pillars over the Temple Mount; and other such wondrous stories (R. Aryeh Leib Frumkin, Toldot Chachmei Yerushalayim, III, p. 161, in the name of R. Yaakov Moshe Charlap). He was a fierce opponent of Chassidut his entire life (though interestingly, one of his Kabbalistic works, Menachem Tzion, Przemyśl 1885, was published by prominent Galician Rebbes, who mistakenly took it as the teachings of R. Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk, who had also lived in Eretz Israel).