"My Limbs are Shaking from Laughter" - an Early Letter Handwritten and Signed by the Nobel Prize Laureate Shai ...

"My Limbs are Shaking from Laughter" - an Early Letter Handwritten and Signed by the Nobel Prize Laureate Shai (Shmuel Yosef) Agnon ("Czaczkes") and Reb Binyamin to Kadish Yehuda Silman, the Editor of the Humorous Jornal "La'Yehudim" - Jaffa, 1910
Kadish Yehuda Silman, the Editor of the Humorous Jornal "La'Yehudim" - Jaffa, 1910
Letter on a postcard that was sent from Jaffa in 1910 by two of the greatest Hebrew writers: Shai Agnon and Reb Binyamin, to their friend the writer Kadish Yehuda Silman at the Bezalel School of Art, after receiving from him the issue of the humorous journal "La'Yehudim" which he had edited.
Such an early letter by Shai Agnon has never been seen in auctions!
The main letter is handwritten and signed by Reb Binyamin, who writes among others: "Thank you for the "La'Yehudim", not bad, caused me a little pleasure, there is in this issue, talent…" Later in the letter, he tells Kadish Silman about his literary works of art such as "Sefer Ha'Tergumim".
On the upper part of the postcard, upside down, a letter handwritten and signed by Shai Czaczkes - that is, the writer Shai Agnon, before he Hebraized his name!
Among others, Agnon writes: "… it is a pity that I cannot write my opinion in detail, since my limbs are shaking from laughter".
Letters by Shai Agnon from such an early period, before World War I and before he Hebraized his name are extremely rare!
On the reverse side of the postcard, an ancient illustration of Ahasuerus and Queen Esther.
Shai Agnon was known as one of the greatest Hebrew writers of Modern History. In 1966, he won the Nobel Prize for literature. He immigrated to the Land of Israel in 1908 and with a letter of recommendation went to see the important writer Reb Binyamin who lived in Jaffa. Reb Binyamin was eight years older than Agnon and more well-known. In 1908, Agnon published his first work in the Land of Israel, the story "Agunot" ("Forsaken Wives"). He signed the story by the pen name "Agnon", derived from the title of the story, and which he adopted as his official surname in 1924. Encouraged by Reb Binyamin, Agnon sent a German translation of the story "Agunot" to Martin Buber, who published it in 1910 in the Zionist journal "Die Welt" ("The World").
The bond between Reb Binyamin and Shai Agnon grew stronger over the years. Once, Agnon referred to Reb Binyamin's pen name: "We had never seen a writer who calls himself a name that a Kosher Jew calls his brother. Until Reb Binyamin called himself Reb Binyamin…"
The addressee, Kadish Yehuda Silman (1880-1937), a teacher, poet, writer and translator. One of the founders of Tel Aviv and the Beit Ha'Kerem neighborhood of Jerusalem. His souse in Jerusalem was a meeting place for scholars and writers, Shai Agnon and Reb Binyamin among them.
Source: Private Collection.
Condition: Very Good. Slight omission in the corner of the postcard, with no damage to text. On the upper part of the postcard, an inscription (its beginning slightly erased): "Dr. … Feldman Jaffa"