Chaim Jacob HaKohen Feinstein. Kuntress Torath Imecha.

(INDIA / SINGAPORE).

Ezekiel ben Saliman Hanin

Calcutta

1886

Three small corrections to the text very probably in the hand of the author (title, p. 11 and end).

Yaari, Calcutta 32 (erroneous collation).

Written by an emissary from Safed, who “afforded the Calcutta Community a great spiritual benefit” during his three visits to India. The work upbraided many unworthy customs that became rooted among the Indian Jewish Community as well as their inattention to moral matters. The author particularly objected to poor standards of kashruth, as well as the exotic custom of permitting the use of rickshaws to travel to the synagogue on the Sabbath, a custom, the author notes, shared with the Jews of Singapore. Feinstein also objected to a dearth of compassion for the poor, chiding “the rich who fritter much wealth to build beautiful synagogues…” The final leaves contain citations from R. Yaakov Emden concerning the characteristics of the wise man, the fool, the jester and the hypocrite. See A. Yaari, Sheluchei Eretz Yisrael pp. 831-32; E.N. Musleah, On the Banks of the Ganga-The Sojourn of the Jews in Calcutta (1975) pp. 511-12.