Ya’akov Meir b. Avraham Moshe Lehren and Zalman b. Yehuda Ber Rubens of the the Pekidim and Amarkalim Society. Letter Signed, written in Hebrew to Yitzchak Dov HaLevi Bamberger “the Würzburger Rav” and R. Avraham Wechsler of Schwabach.

(ISRAEL, LAND OF)

18th Shevat

Amsterdam

1850

Discusses an unscrupulous charity collector who misappropriated funds for himself that was due to be given to the indigent Jews living in Eretz Israel. Provides details concerning disputes between Sephardic and Ashkenazic agents sent to collect funds in America. Due to these problems only monies received in New York are acceptable. Also notes that a collector sent by Sephardic Chief Rabbi Chaim Abraham Gaguin to America died while in transit in London.

In order to organize and simplify the system by which money was raised in wealthier Jewish communities to benefit indigent Jews in Eretz Israel, Tzvi Hirsch Lehren (1784-1853), his brothers, and other leading members of the Jewish Community in Amsterdam, founded in 1809 The Pekidim and Amarkalim Society of the Holy Land. Due to their professionalism and dedication, by 1824 they had become the exclusive collecting agency on behalf of the Jews of Eretz Israel. (EJ, vol. X col. 1584). After discussing various problems, the present letter requests that R. Bamberger not issue a proclamation against the organization’s Tzedakah collectors. They will take care of any improprieties and will seek to give the Dutch and German Jews in Eretz Israel a greater share of the collected funds. Yitzchak Dov HaLevi Bamberger (1807-1878) was one of the outstanding rabbinic leaders of German Orthodoxy. R. Abraham Wechsler was a disciple of R. Wolf Hamburg of Fuerth. INCLUDES INTERESTING DETAILS REGARDING THE PHILANTHROPIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE JEWS IN AMERICA AND THOSE RESIDING IN ERETZ ISRAEL.