Printed leaf, Tena'im for Shavuot, original text by R. Zalman Branson. Chicago, Illinois, 1919.
Metaphorical Tena'im for the betrothal of the Torah to the Jewish people, based on the text of Tena'im for marriage.
In this unique Tena'im document, the groom is the Jewish people, while the bride is the Torah. The bride's side is represented by G-d, who commits to give 613 commandments as dowry; the groom's side is represented by Moses. The guarantors are the patriarchs, and the witnesses are heaven and earth. The wedding is to take place on Shavuot, with King David playing music and Aharon HaKohen blessing the bride and groom.
Several compositions of this kind exist, the first one being the Ketubah for Shavuot composed by R. Yisrael Najara, which is recited in certain communities on Shavuot.
The present item comprises a new, original text.
[1] leaf. 26 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Tears and folding marks.
Not listed in the Bibliography of the Hebrew Book nor in the NLI catalog.

PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.

HaDerech – The Way, monthly published by the Kehilla of Toronto. 12 consecutive issues. Toronto, 1940-1941. Yiddish and English.
Issues nos. 1-12. Possibly no other issues were published.
The monthly was published "in the interest of Kashrut and traditional Judaism (as stated at the opening of the issues) by the Kehilla of Toronto, an organization founded in 1923 to oversee the kashrut of meet in the city. The editor was Jacob I. Wohlgelernter.
The monthly was established in attempt to resolve the chaos which prevailed in the first half of the 20th century regarding the kashrut of meat (see previous item).
One of the rabbis who stood behind the monthly was R. Yaakov Kamenetsky (1891-1986), later one of the Torah leaders of the United States, who served at that time as rabbi of Toronto (1938-1945). Notices in the present issues reveal that he was one of the two rabbis at the head of the Vaad Hakashrut of the Kehilla of Toronto, to whom one could turn to on any matters of kashrut and religion (the other was R. Yosef Weinreb, 1869-1943, first chief rabbi of Toronto, known as the "Galitzianer Rav"). The issues also include a letter and declaration by the two rabbis, as well as two essays composed by R. Yaakov Kamenetsky, one of them containing a sharp protest against the United Jewish Welfare (this essay appears twice, in English in issue 6 and in Yiddish in issue 8); the other essay contains notes in preparation for Passover – mostly on kashrut matters (Yiddish, issue 10).
Apart from essays and notices on kashrut matters, as well as many essays regarding education of the young generation, the issues contain interesting information regarding the efforts of Canadian Jewry on behalf of their brethren during the Holocaust, items about the war, advertisements for Jewish organizations such as the JNF, essays upon the passing of R. Dov Revel (Rabbi Dr. Bernard Revel, first president of RIETS in New York), an essay on kashrut by R. Shimshon Rafael Hirsch; and more. The issues also mention the names of many distinguished members of the Toronto community (surnames such as Korolnek, Tanenbaum, Shiff).
12 issues (dozens of leaves). Very good condition.
The monthly does not appear in OCLC nor in Ontario Jewish Archives, and is presumably bibliographically unknown. This may be a complete set of issues.

PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.

Printed booklet – Dedication Service of Bad Nauheim Synagogue. [Bad Nauheim, Germany], 24th June 1945. English.
The synagogue on Karlstrasse 29 in the spa town of Bad Nauheim (some 28 km north of Frankfurt am Main) was built by the German-Jewish architect Richard Kauffmann. The synagogue, which was completed in 1929, was one of the last synagogues built in Germany before the rise of the Nazis to power and one of the only ones to survive the Kristallnacht pogroms. Though the synagogue was set on fire, its doors broken and windows smashed, its furniture destroyed and the Torah scrolls and holy books, burned, the building itself was preserved. In the subsequent years, the synagogue served as a municipal warehouse.
On 27th April 1945 (a month after the town was occupied by US troops and two weeks after Germany officially surrendered on 7th May 1945), public prayers were held in the synagogue for the first time since 1938, mostly attended by Jewish soldiers in the US army, alongside a few camp survivors. On 24th June 1945, after it was restored and renovated, an official dedication service was held by the headquarters of the XIX corps of the US army. The service program was printed in the present booklet.
The ceremony was led by Chaplain Samuel Blinder accompanied by cantor Melvin Miller, and was attended by Jewish soldiers serving in the XIX corps.
[1] folded leaf (3 printed pages). 21 cm. Good-fair condition. Folding marks. Brittle paper. Tears, including open tears, to margins and folds, not affecting text. Browned paper. Minor stains.

PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.

Assorted collection of letters from various rabbis. Hungary and Eretz Israel, ca. 1930s-1940s, most are from the times of the Holocaust:
• Letter handwritten and signed by R. Asher Anshel Katz Rabbi of Duna-Szerdahely (Dunajská Streda), addressed to Rabbi Dr. Yitzchak Eizik Reiner, regarding the rescue of his son-in-law R. Yechiel David Salzer. Av 1943.
• Letter signed by R. Shimon Yisrael Posen Rabbi of Pupa (Pápa), previously rabbi of Sopron. Recommendation for R. Yerachmiel Yaakov Dushinsky Rabbi of Rákospalota. Pápa, 1948.
• Letter handwritten and signed by R. Tzvi Hirsh Katz Rabbi of Derecske, to R. Shmuel Sanvil Kahana head of the Orthodox Bureau in Budapest, request for funding for rescue matters. Derecske, Adar II 1943.
• Postcard with a typewritten letter (unsigned) – announcement from the Kehal Yere'im Beit Din in Budapest that the chametz in yeast factories had not been sold that year, therefore the public should refrain from using this product for 14 days after Passover. Budapest, Chol HaMoed Pesach, Nissan 1940.
• Letter (mimeographed – unsigned), invitation to a rabbinic conference of the Central Committee of the Orthodox Bureau in Hungary. Budapest, Tevet 1942.
• Printed letter completed by hand, from the Chevra Mishnayot of Machzikei Lomdei Torah in Grosswardein (Oradea). Announcement regarding the distribution of the study of the Six Orders of Mishnah. Completed by hand in Kislev 1929.
• Letter from the Relief Committee for Refugee Rabbis (from Russia and other countries), signed by R. Isser Zalman Meltzer and R. Shmuel Kipnis. Jerusalem, Shvat 1946.
7 letters. Size and condition vary.

PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.