Eight-panel wooden folding screen with lights, late 20th century
€12,000
est €12,000 – —
Miscellaneous
· Feb 2016
Two silver bars, Dutch East India Company Middelburg 1752, from the ship "Bredenhof"
€390,000
est €390,000 – —
Silver & Gold
· Feb 2016
Travel guides; Lot 4 Baedeker travel guides to Germany and Austria - 4 volumes - 1902-1962
€1,500
est €1,500 – —
Books, Maps & Manuscripts
· Apr 2017
Economie; A.C.Pigou M.A. - Industrial Fluctuations - 1927
€5,000
est €5,000 – —
Miscellaneous
—
Arts & Graphics
· Dec 2016
Calvaneo 1583 Astonia Firediamond FULL CUT Brilliant – men's watch – new
€14,000
est €14,000 – —
Watches & Clocks
kestenbaum· Sept 2023
<p><span style="color:#9C0000"><strong>(SPAIN).</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#9C0000"><strong><br /></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#9C0000"><strong>MANUSCRIPT EDICT BY WHICH KING OF CASTILE, JUAN I GRANTS THE NEWLY FOUNDED MONASTERY OF SAN BENITO OF VALLADOLID AN INCOME FROM THE ALJAMA OF THE JEWS OF VALLADOLID (NORTH CENTRAL SPAIN). (Castile), c.1379.</strong></span></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Contemporaneous copy of the original grant from the King of Castile of 20,000 maravedís from the annual cabeza del pecho (head-tax/capitation tax) of the Jewish aljama (community) of Valladolid. </p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Although the document is not dated, it is clear is stems from King Juan, as it notes Alfonso "our grandfather" (King Alfonso XI) and Enrique "our father" (Enrique II, the first Trastámara king of Castile, who won the throne from his half-brother, Pedro I, after a bloody civil war), and even the infante Enrique, Juan's son (future Enrique III).</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p> The grant is to the female Cistercian monastery of Santa María la Real de Huelgas of Valladolid (see <a href="https://huelgasreales.es/es/instalaciones/el-monasterio/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://huelgasreales.es/es/instalaciones/el-monasterio/</a>). </p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Juan's father, Enrique II, and his mother, queen consort Juana Manuel (<a href="https://dbe.rah.es/biografias/13535/juana-manuel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://dbe.rah.es/biografias/13535/juana-manuel</a>) gave the village called Villa Vieja (Villavieja del Cerro?), which was actually a property of the Las Huelgas monastery, to a nobleman by the name of Juan Martínez de Rojas, lord of Monzón y Cavia. The nuns went to court to get their property back, and it was soon determined that the village was indeed theirs. But instead of handing it back to Las Huelgas, King Juan decided to compensate the nuns by granting them the money from the capitation tax of the Jewish community of Valladolid. </p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>The document emphasizes several times that the exchange was done with the explicit consent of the Queen Mother, Juana, who was present during the granting of the charter. Her agreement was required, the document says, because Valladolid was "her city" and thus the money from the aljama was also hers. </p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Noted toward the end of the document is recorded the total amount of the tax is 35,000 maravedís, from which the nuns would receive 20,000. Furthermore, should the Jews fail to fulfill their financial obligation to the nuns, they will be imprisoned and held without food and drink until they pay. (This was the sort of threatening language that Juan's father, Enrique, introduced in his grants of Jewish taxes to religious institutions. Enrique used antisemitic propaganda during the civil war to gain support from municipal councils in northern Castile). It was in fact common practice for Castilian kings to grant a part of, or the entire amount of taxes from Jewish communities to religious institutions. The document must be dated between 1379 - Juan's coronation, and 1381 - the year of Juana Manuel's death, as she was still alive when this charter was granted). <br /><br />The monastery of San Benito de Valladolid, founded in 1390, took the leading role in the monastic reform of fifteenth-century Castile. See Maya Soifer Irish, Jews and Christians in Medieval Castile: Tradition, Coexistence, and Change (2016). </p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>See <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/valladolid" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/valladolid</a>.</p>
<p><span style="color:#9C0000"><strong> </strong></span></p>
<div>
Historical Letter from Rabbi Yitzchak Eizik Chaver – Protest and Response to the Reform Rabbinical Conference of Brunswick – With many Variations in Comparison to the Printed Version
</div>
<div>
Lengthy letter (3 pages) written and signed by the famous rabbi and kabbalist R. Yitzchak Eizik Chaver. Tiktin (Tykocin), m 1845.
</div>
<div>
Historical letter written by R. Yitzchak Eizik Chaver in response to the famous Reform Rabbinical Conference of Brunswick (Braunschweig) in 1844. In this first official conference convened by reformers, far-reaching decisions were reached regarding the abolishment of halacha and customs, amendments to the prayer services, and other reforms. Amongst others, the reformers announced that inter-faith marriage between Jews and Christians was no longer prohibited, abolished Shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah and the recital of Kol Nidrei on Yom Kippur, authorized the consumption of Kitniyot (legumes) on Passover and much more.
</div>
<div>
This conference marked a turning point in the attitude of Orthodox Jewry to the Reform movement. The conference aroused a wave of protest from rabbis from all over Europe. R. Tzvi Hirsh Lehren (head of the Pekidim and Amarkalim) collected protest letters from foremost rabbis, to be published in a special book (similar to Eleh Divrei HaBrit which was published several years earlier, in 1819, in response to the inauguration of the Reform temple in Hamburg). R. Tzvi Hirsh Lehren issued an appeal to the leading rabbis around the world, requesting they write their opinion on the Brunswick conference. Over 70 rabbis, including the most famous leaders from around the world, responded and expedited lengthy protest letters. The letters were compiled into a book, published in two parts in Amsterdam, in Adar I and Nissan 1845, under the title Torat HaKenaot.
</div>
<div>
This letter is one of the letters sent to R. Tzvi Hirsh Lehren, and contains R. Yitzchak Eizik Chaver's lengthy and sharp denunciation of the decisions the reformers instituted, with the addition of detailed explanations of their mistakes and the destruction their actions would engender.
</div>
<div>
R. Yitzchak Eizik writes sharply of the "society of sinful and wicked men, heretics and apostates… who convened a meeting of empty-headed fools, emissaries of lust and desire… to uproot and undermine… the commandments of our holy Torah…". He expounds upon the authority and validity of the Oral Law, and on the obligation to adhere to laws and customs down to the finest details, strongly condemning the "absolute wicked whose only wish is to give free rein to their passion for all kinds of sins…". R. Yitzchak Eizik proclaims that "there is not a single Jew who has the authority to abolish anything, not even one custom from our holy rites…".
</div>
<div>
This letter was published in Torat HaKenaot, but upon comparison between the printed version and the original letter, it appears that several changes were made before printing. Most of the printing variations consist of moderating the sharp terms R. Yitzchak Eizik used in his letter.
</div>
<div>
R. Yitzchak Eizik Chaver (1787-1852), a transmitter of the kabbalistic teachings of the Gaon of Vilna. At the young age of 14, R. Menachem Mendel of Shklow (disciple of the Gaon of Vilna) deemed him suited to study Kabbalah. He earnt the reputation of an extraordinary erudite in all realms of the Torah, while still very young, and served as rabbi in prominent communities: as Pruzhany, Rozinoi (Ruzhany), Volkavisk (Vawkavysk). Between 1837-1849, he served as rabbi of Tiktin, and then moved over to serve as rabbi of Suvalk (Suwałki), a position he held for 4 years. An outstanding Torah scholar, amongst the leading rabbis of his generation, and foremost halachic authority. He completed the Talmud 60 times. He authored dozens of books on revealed and esoteric realms of the Torah, of which only some were published, including many kabbalistic books of the teachings of the Gaon of Vilna and responsa on halachic and Talmudic topics.
</div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
