Collection of five documents:

(INDIA)

* 1. Magid Devarav LeYa'aakov. Bombay, 1882; A halachic decision of local Bombay Hahamim, Meir Sliman Kandel and David Judah Aschkenazi protesting action by the Palestine emissary R. Asher Abraham Halevi whereby recently freed and newly coverted (‘manumitted’) slaves in Bombay and Calcutta were allowed to pronounce the blessing "Asher bachar banu mikol Ha’amim" upon reading the Torah, as other converts to Judaism. * 2. Magen Avraham. Bombay, 1882; Responsum of R. Abraham Shraga Aschkenazi of Hebron asserting that manumitted slaves are not inferior to other converts to Judaism, and may be called to read in the Torah as all other Jews. * 3. Responsum of R. Raphael Meir Panigel, Rishon LeZion of Jerusalem, to David Judah Aschkenazi of Bombay, upholding the liberal decision of the emissary R. Asher Abraham Halevi concerning manumitted slaves, and severely reprimanding Aschkenazi for having overruled the decision. Lacking conclusion (provided in photocopy). N.p., 1883

This collection contains an interesting trilogy concerning the fate of the freed slaves (“Meshuhrarim”) of Bombay and Calcutta, who even after their full conversion to Judaism, were evidently discriminated against by local community leaders and sought an authoritative decision in their favor from the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Raphael Meir Panigel. It would appear that the rigid caste-system of highly stratified Indian society had a pervasive influence upon the Indian Jewish community of the time