Pinkas Beth Vaad HaKelali...R. Meir Baal Ha-Ness

A record of the relationship between the Old Yishuv of Eretz Israel and the Jews of the British Isles. An emissary’s ledger on behalf of the Central Committe of the United Jewish Congregations in the Holy Land, representing all the Kollelim - Aschkenazim, Perushim and Chassidim of the Four Holy Cities of Jersalem, Hebron, Safed and Tiberias. The Pinkas records the appointment of Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak HaLevi Teitelbaum as the Vaad’s emissary to the United States and England. Teitelbaum is described as a scholar of the highest repute and greatest dedication, whose task it was to deepen ties with the Jews of England, as well as collect needed funds for the often impoverished Jews of Eretz Israel. Although the appointment letter mentions the United States, this ledger only records his visits to Great Britain. The most important record of an emissary’s mission was his Pinkas Shadar Ledger, in which the emissary recorded details of all the rabbis and community-leaders visited, the sums collected, as well as his reports on local community efforts on behalf of the mission. This ledger details the activities of the emissary’s mission on behalf of the Vaad to Britain and contains the endorsements of numerous Rabbis throughout England and Scotland