Hirschel, Solomon. LeYechidei Segulah.

(ANGLO-JUDAICA).

Kiernan’s Hebrew Office, Mar-Cheshvan, 5582

London

(1821)

Hebrew and English text.

Unrecorded by both Roth and Vinograd.

A call to save the Synagogue of R. Judah HecHassid in Jerusalem. An urgent bilingual appeal in Hebrew and English from Chief Rabbi Solomon Hirschel to his “beloved and esteemed” Anglo-Jewish brethren.” “A voice of trouble has come from the confines of the Holy Land, and greatly am I shocked at hearing that an inheritance long in possession of our German ancestors had fallen into the hands of the Mussulmen. This portion of land, situate in Jerusalem, on which stood a synagogue and a college which was distinguished by having been the station of the famous and devout R. Judah Hasid but which from the turbulence of the times was obliged to be deserted, and for some years strangers have seized and kept possession of it. The grace of God has, however … disposed the Governor to allow of its being repurchased at a sum short of its actual value; but upon the express condition that the money be paid within a short stipulated time, or it will be absolutely forfeited and remain in the possession of the holders, who intend to erect thereon a Mosque for their worship. Ah! woe to the ears hearing such tidings…” A symbol of the close relationship between the Jews of the British Isles and their co-religionists in the Land of Israel.