The rare and unobtainable handwritten signature of the High Priest Maharil Diskin Zatzukal on the 'boycott' against ...

The rare and unobtainable handwritten signature of the High Priest Maharil Diskin Zatzukal on the 'boycott' against the 'schools' in Jerusalem - 1896.

We have before us the form of the original 'haram' letter that was distributed in Jerusalem in the year 1555 and includes the printed and sharp letters of the rabbis of Jerusalem Maharil Diskin, the 'Torat Hesed' from Lublin, and the Garash Salant Zechar Tsadikim and Kedushim for blessing. The letters bear the rare signature of his hand of Marna Maharil Diskin Zatzukal and on this side of the Gaon who has the 'Torat Chesed' from Lublin Zatzukal, while the letter of Gersh Salant does not appear to have a signature. the city's grand court)

In the years 1844-1777, the RIL served as rabbinate in the most important communities in Lithuania and Belarus such as 'Kovna', 'Lomzhe', 'Shaklov' and 'Brisk', while still being there he became famous for his struggles with religious fundamentalists and his devotion to the honor of Heaven.

In the year 1777, he came from Israel to the gates of Jerusalem in order to settle there, and soon students of great Torah gathered around him to hear his famous lessons, and his home became known as Tel Talpiot in matters of Torah and education in the city, and together with the Gershas and the 'Torat Chesed' he led the community Ashkenazi until his death.

The boycott of the schools: one of the most famous and the few boycotts that remain influential to this day is the boycott of the schools and foreign language studies in Jerusalem.

In the year 1337, Dr. Ludwig August Frankel came to Israel from the State of History, Dr. Frankel came on the mission of Mrs. Hertz from Vienna, the daughter of the Austrian Jewish noble, Shimon Adler - Lemel, to open the school named after her father, The plan was that apart from the customary sacred studies, the students would also study general studies, a bold innovation that was frowned upon by the Jews of Jerusalem.

The rabbis of the city soon picked up on Frankel's trend, and even though Hela behaved like a God-fearing Jew in many ways and tried with all his might to convince the rabbis to stand by his side and support his plans, their answer was resolute and negative - unequivocal opposition to any change in the Jerusalem education system. But even so, there was great fear that some of these individuals would be tempted to send their children to the new school, which is why the rabbis resorted to a particularly harsh measure - the "boycott".

In the same year, on the 9th day of Sivan, the first 'boycott' was announced on the schools, this boycott which was announced and agreed upon by the well-known elders of the city, Rabbi Yosef Zondel of Salant, Rabbi Yeshayahu Bardaki, Rabbi Nachum Mashadik and many other good ones was the opening shot in the struggle of the Ashkenazi community in Jerusalem with attempts Many and varied in the next century to intervene in conventional education.

The Jerusalem maggid Rabbi Ben Zion Yadler recounted in his memories what he heard from an old man who was present in the 'Horva' Synagogue when the terrible boycott was first announced:

"The synagogue was full from mouth to mouth, and they opened the Ark of the Covenant and lit black candles, and one of the elders and dignitaries of Jerusalem at the time, Rabbi Yosef Shmuel Hershler ZtZal, got on the stage and raised his voice like the voice of a lion and shouted, "Separate from this evil community." etc., and the doors of the thresholds were moved, and fear and terrible terror and horror fell upon all who heard...

The geniuses Rabbi Yishai Bardaki, Rabbi Yosef Zondel of Salant, and his son-in-law Rabbi Shmuel Salant, Rabbi Nachum Mashadik, and Rabbi Aharon Moshe of Barad, a student of the 'Hozha of Lublin'. And about fifty of the sages of Jerusalem signed an extremely harsh wording on the schools: "And they shall not come near the person who studies in such a house or let his sons and daughters study there either regularly or randomly... and anyone who violates this decree and prohibition... after all, he is breaking a fence, etc. ' God will not forgive him and put the whole of God in him and separate him from the crowd of the Ashkenazi community...

In the following decades, the 'haram' was renewed and strengthened by the rabbis of Jerusalem, this was the case in the years 1772 1775 and 1742, but the most significant strengthening was after the rise of the Maharil to Israel and his joining the prohibitionists.

It was in the year 1778 that he and his court together with two hundred other scholars signed the 'boycott' which was now directed against the idea of ​​teaching the Arabic language in the 19th century 'Etz Chaim', this boycott was considered so bad in his eyes that he refused to pray for the healing of one Shehla, because God avoided announcing the boycott in the 'Ruins' synagogue, he did sign the ban again in the years 2015 and 2017. In several cases the 'ban' was aimed at certain individuals and was not unanimously accepted by the Jerusalem rabbis, but in general they agreed All to ban the introduction of foreign choirs in educational institutions.

Haram 1556: In the second of Adar 1556, the Maharil came again with the signature of his holy hand on the writing of the 'haram' that is before us when he extends with pointed words about the prohibition that "I have not been made as light as a hair's breadth, and no man has the power to permit it.. Even if all the sages of Israel were to gather, they are not allowed and cannot move him.

With him came the letters of the 'Torat Chesed' from Lublin and the famous rabbi of Jerusalem - the Gaon Rabbi Shmuel Salant who returned and warned about the validity and severity of the prohibition and the inability for anyone to change it.

This prohibition was publicized in the city under the title 'Coals of Fire' and operated at such a level that until the Maharil's death, no more than nine children were found in Jerusalem who attended the confiscated schools, and they were not even natives of the city.

More than one hundred and twenty years have passed since then, and the influence of this 'haram' remains, among many communities belonging to the 'Orthodox community', the ban applies to all of its law and constitution today, its very declaration, and every member of the 'community' commands and stands to "maintain me and my descendants without transgressing The terrible boycott ... of educational institutions where foreign languages ​​are studied... and which will be renewed in the Mishnah is valid and strengthened by Rabbi Kohak Maran Yehoshua Liv Diskin of Brisk ZIA...

Marnan the Chazu'a and Steifal'er Zatzuk'l also took this issue seriously and explained in several ways why the ban on studying English in the schools of 'Beit Ya'akov' did not apply, and in various places it is customary to study only in small groups, which is a kind of branch of the law.

Specification: the document is very good, given by the thin wood with which it was hung in the synagogues, the document has undergone light restoration mainly in the corners with a very light touch to the boycott text, somewhat faded signature.