Letter of recommendation handwritten and signed by R. Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, head of the Eida HaCharedit Beit Din in Jerusalem, with a letter of recommendation handwritten and signed by R. Yosef Binyamin Shimonovitz, head of the shochatim and bodkim (ritual slaughterers and inspectors) in Jerusalem. Jerusalem, Tevet 1922.
Letter of recommendation from R. Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, addressed to the administrators of a charity organization in Jerusalem, requesting they provide support for "a prominent, respected and elderly Torah scholar, a very noble person, whom since his youth… has been delving diligently in Torah study and worship of G-d…". Beneath R. Sonnenfeld's signature is his stamp: "Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, rabbi and head of the Beit Din of the Ashkenazi community in Jerusalem".
R. Sonnenfeld's letter of recommendation is preceded by an additional recommendation from the shochet R. Yosef Binyamin Shimonovitz, in the upper part of the page.
R. Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld (1849-1932), spiritual leader of Orthodox Jewry in Eretz Israel. Outstanding Torah scholar, a wise and holy man. Disciple of the Ketav Sofer in the Pressburg yeshiva, and of R. Avraham Schag Rabbi of Kobersdorf. He immigrated to Jerusalem in 1873 together with his teacher R. Avraham Schag, and was renowned as one of its leading Torah scholars. He was also reputed for his righteousness and holiness, and was zealously involved in communal and charity matters, operating with great wisdom. When R. Yehoshua Leib Diskin immigrated to Jerusalem in 1879, R. Yosef Chaim cleaved to him, becoming his close disciple and head of his Beit Din. He was the Maharil's right-hand man in the battle against the Christian mission and the Haskala movement, which threatened the old Yishuv in Jerusalem. In 1919-1921, the separate community of Eida HaChareidit of Ashkenazi communities was established, and R. Yosef Chaim was appointed the first rabbi of the Eida HaChareidit earning the title of Mara D'Ara DeYisrael.
R. Yosef Binyamin Shimonovitz (1849-1927), an outstanding Torah scholar, head of the shochatim in Jerusalem. He was a disciple of the Ketav Sofer and R. Aharon David Deutsch author of Goren David. He served as lecturer in the Chatam Sofer yeshiva in Jerusalem, and as posek in the Batei Ungarin neighborhood. In the mid-1880s, he was appointed by R. Shmuel Salant Rabbi of Jerusalem and by the Maharil Diskin as head shochet in Jerusalem. Even the Torat Chesed and the Aderet relied on his slaughtering. The Maharil Diskin would only eat meat slaughtered by R. Yosef Binyamin. The Maharil Diskin attested that "R. Yosef Binyamin innovates novellae attaining the true meaning of Torah". R. Tzvi Pesach Frank Rabbi of Jerusalem wrote in his approbation to Yemin Yosef - book authored by R. Yosef Binyamin (Jerusalem 1957), that its author was "renowned in the previous generation as one of the leaders of the holy city of Jerusalem".
[1] leaf. 21 cm. Good condition. Stains. Marginal tear, not affecting text. Folding marks and creases.