"Baruch HaBa BeShem Hashem" – colorful decorated handwritten certificate, with over twenty signatures of rabbis and leaders of Safed, with stamps of rabbis and institutions of the Ashkenazic community in the city. Safed, 23rd Sivan, [1910].

Mixed technique (black and gold ink, pastel, watercolor and colored pencils) on paper. Without signature of artist.

Large certificate in colorful calligraphy, decorated with a fine frame comprised of verses and gilt decorations, illustrations of lions holding a Torah crown and medallions of palm and cedar trees, characteristic of the artwork of R. Yosef Tzvi Geiger – a founding father of art in Safed, a scribe of the kollels and an official in Torah and charitable institutions of the city.

The certificate was written in honor of the visit to Safed of the Chief Rabbi of the Ottoman Empire, R. Chaim Nachum, on behalf of the Ashkenazic community of Ottomans subjects. Includes 21 signatures of rabbis and officials, 11 stamps of rabbis and institutions of the Ashkenazic community of Safed. The signatories include R. Tzvi Rosenstein, R. Yaakov Bahar, R. David Segal, R. Nechemiah Segal, R. Yeshayah HaLevi Horowitz [1883-1978, a Chabad rabbi and posek, Rabbi of the Chabad community of his native Safed, and later member of the Beit Din of his teacher the Ridvaz; emigrated after World War I, serving as rabbi in communities in the United States and Canada, until returning to Eretz Israel later in life; father of R Shmuel Horowitz, a Breslov Chassid of Jerusalem and Meron]; R. Asher Yechezkel Horowitz; and many others.

57X81 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, creases and wear. Marginal tears, slightly affecting text, and tape repairs.

Yosef Tzvi Geiger (1870-1944) was a member of Torah and charitable institutions of his native Safed, a secretary, official and scribe of the kollels, and an active communal worker. He was known in his city as a skilled scribe and artist, producing works of all kinds.