77 171 (SASSOON FAMILY). Small Shevithi Protective Plaque. Hebrew manuscript written in elegant square script in various sizes ON VELLUM. Displays the Divine Name of God (the Tetragrammaton), Psalm LXVII arranged as a seven- branched Menorah and surrounded by multi-colored stylized flowers and foliage with Kabbalistic formulae. 4.5 x 6.5 inches * HOUSED IN: National Bank of India envelope, the front of which contains an autograph note signed by Flora Sassoon in her distinctive Hebrew hand: “This Menorah was given to me as a gift by R. Joseph, my father’s uncle, in the month of Adar I, 1935. He received it from my grandfather, the Tzadik Suleiman, Kislev, 1894. (India), 19th century. $2000 - $3000 ❧ The verse (Psalm 16:8) “I place [Shevithi] the Lord before me always” is regarded by the devout as a focus of meditative contemplation. Hence the “Shevithi” became a distinct genre of Jewish ceremonial art, embellished with mystical and artistic features, as an object of veneration. Clearly members of the Baghdad-Bombay-London Sassoon Family paid great heed to such piety and carried the present Shevithi as a personal talisman. Flora (Farha) Sassoon (1859-1936) was married to the businessman and philanthropist Solomon David Sassoon (1841–94), and was a unique, published, rabbinic scholar in her own right. She was the mother of the great bibliophile David Solomon Sassoon (1880-1942) and grandmother of the learned Solomon David Sassoon (1915-85). 172 SCHNEERSON, MOUSSIA (CHAYA-MUSHKA) (Wife of the seventh Grand Rabbi of Lubavitch, R. Menachem Mendel Schneerson. 1901-88). Autograph Letter Signed to Necha Rivkin of Jerusalem (formerly of Rostov, later of New York and wife of Rabbi Moshe Dov-Ber Rivkin of Yeshivath Torath Emeth in Jerusalem and later, Torah Voda’ath of New York). Written entirely in Russian, concerning her upcoming wedding. “I have been in Warsaw now for ten days and am very busy with wedding preparations… I am here with my mother and it is now late on Motzei Shabbos, the wedding will be on Tuesday.” Postcard-size, densely written on both sides. Warsaw, 24th November, (1928). $4000 - $6000 ❧ The second of the three daughters of the Friediker Rebbe, R. Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson (1880-1950), and wife to R. Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-94), who succeeded his father-in-law’s title as Lubavitcher Rebbe in 1951. Writes to her life-long friend, Necha Rivkin, emphasizes how close she feels to her and her family. Notes that all members of Rebbetzin Chaya-Moushka’s family arrive to Warsaw on Monday (the day before her wedding), and that on Wednesday, the family will return to Riga. Lot 171 Lot 172