Typed Letter Signed, in Hebrew, to Rabbi Yehudah Leib Maimon
AUCTION 40 |
Thursday, June 26th,
2008 at 1:00
Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters, Graphic & Ceremonial Art
Lot 272
BEN-GURION, DAVID.
Typed Letter Signed, in Hebrew, to Rabbi Yehudah Leib Maimon
Jerusalem: 30th Sivan 5722 / 2nd July 1962
Est: $600 - $900
PRICE REALIZED $750
After wishing Rabbi Maimon a speedy recovery from ill-health, Ben-Gurion goes on to disavow any involvement with the "League Against Religious Coercion." He notes that if Maimon were still serving as Minister of Religion such a lobby would never have come into existence. Ben-Gurion credits the "Yossele Affair" (the kidnapping of the young boy Yossele Shumacher) and the unwillingness to recognize the Bnai Israel of India as Jews, with the formation of the League.
R. Yehudah Leib Maimon (Fishman) (1875-1962), a leader of the Religious Zionist movement or Mizrachi, served as Minister of Religion in the first Knesset. He established Mossad Harav Kook, an important center of rabbinic research. See EJ, Vol. XI, cols. 739-741Maimonides died a week after receiving this letter.