Letter Signed by Leading Jerusalem Sages: Rabbi Yehudah Navon, Rabbi Yonah Navon, the Mahari"t Algazi. Jerusalem, 1758

Letter Signed by Leading Jerusalem Sages: Rabbi Yehudah Navon, Rabbi Yonah Navon, the Mahari"t Algazi. Jerusalem, 1758
Letter of recommendation for Rabbi Avraham Sangoinetti, primary disciple of the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh and in-law of the Chid"a. Signed by leading sages of Jerusalem: Rabbi Yehudah Navon, Rabbi Yonah Navon and the Mahari"t Algazi. Jerusalem, 1758.

Rabbi Yehudah Navon [1707-1761], author of Kiryat Melech Rav, was the son of the author of Machaneh Ephraim, a disciple of Rabbi Shlomo Algazi II, and teacher of the Mahari"t Algazi. Rabbi Yehudah Navon was the rosh yeshivah of Damesek Eliezer, and led the Beit Din in Jerusalem when the Chid"a was one of its members. The Chid"a praises him profusely in a number of places and calls him, "the pious rabbi, exalted in wisdom and fear of Heav-n ... conducts himself with piety" and he even eulogized him upon his passing.

Rabbi Yonah Navon [1713-1760] was the author of Nechpah BaKesef. He was the primary rabbi of the Chid"a, who referred to him as "holy and pious, G-dly kabbalist, rosh yeshivah and Av Beit Din, my true primary teacher" (in the introduction to his book Nechpah BaKesef). The Chid"a writes in Shem HaGedolim, "and there has almost never been an adjudicator like him in our region; he was pious and a kabbalist." He served as rosh yeshivah of Midrash Knesset Yisrael, which was founded by the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh in Jerusalem.

Rabbeinu Yom Tov - the Mahari"t Algazi [1727-1802], son of the gaon Rabbi Yisrael Ya'akov Algazi, was a gaon and a kabbalist; his visage was that of a G-dly angel. He led the Beit El study hall of Jerusalem kabbalists after his teacher the Rasha"sh's passing. He served as Rishon L'Tziyon in Jerusalem beginning in 1773. The renowned book which earned him an everlasting name is his work Hilchot Yom Tov on the halachahs of bechorot and challah according to the Ramba"n. The Chatam Sofer wrote in his approbation to this book: "I knew him from his time as an emissary from Tziyon in Frankfurt am Main, and the land was illuminated by his honor, yet did not arrive at even half the honor that was due him according to what can be seen from his works Hilchot Yom Tov. He achieved wonders in increasing understanding and from the day he composed Mishneh LaMelech, no one like him has been seen."

Letter to the heads of the Modena community in which rabbis of Jerusalem attest that Rabbi Avraham has the status of a Torah scholar in Jerusalem, exempting him from paying taxes and property taxes "so do not weigh him down him with the tax burden" (apparently this is regarding taxes on property of his in Modena, his native city). The letter is signed by leading Sephardic geonim of Jerusalem, each one of whom was a gaon, an adjudicator and an author of important fundamental books.

Rabbi Avraham [Yishmael] Sangoinetti was a faithful disciple and associate of Rabbeinu HaOhr HaChaim HaKadosh, and he ascended with him in his youth from Italy to Jerusalem. He took shelter in his shade, and was then appointed as a member of the 'Ahavat Shalom' society of kabbalists. (His letters to his father in Modena in which he described the Ohr HaChaim and his followers' ascent to the Land of Israel are well-known). Rabbi Avraham Azoulay, son of the Chid"a, was his son-in-law. The Chid"a calls him, "the complete sage, pious and a kabbalist, 'holy' was said about him" (Benayahu, Chid"a, page 510).

[1] leaf paper 21x22 cm. Oriental script; fine condition. Aging stains. Professionally restored margins without damage to text.