Ledger of the Emissary to Algeria for the Ari Yeshiva in Tzfas
Historic Manuscript on Algerian Jewry!
1932
Handwritten personal ledger of the emissary of the Yeshiva of the Ari in Tzfas, documenting his travels through dozens of cities across Algeria.
Algerian Jewry was one of the most distinguished and long-standing communities in the Islamic countries, tracing its roots back to the Rishonim. Prominent Torah giants such as Rabbi Yitzchak Alfasi (the Rif) flourished there. At its peak, the Jewish population of Algeria numbered over 150,000! Nearly all left in the years around 1962, leaving the country virtually empty of Jews to this day.
Presented here is the personal travel ledger carried by a Tzfas-based "shadar" (emissary) on his mission throughout the cities of Algeria and its environs. In it, he meticulously recorded the details of his journey on behalf of the sacred institutions of Tzfas: Kuppas Rashbi, the Yeshiva of the Ari, and Yeshivas Zohar HaRaki’a.
The ledger contains the names and donations of hundreds of Jewish benefactors throughout Algeria! Next to some of the names, the emissary added notes – such as to send amulets or the like – and recorded the amount of each donation.
At the beginning of the manuscript, the emissary listed the dozens of cities he visited, and on an additional page, he wrote a travel itinerary charting his route.
At the end of the notebook are several entries written by local Algerian Jews, including names of community leaders and donors, some of whom signed their names in their handwriting. Several passages at the end of the ledger, mainly residential addresses, were written in French.
The ledger is rich with historically significant details about the Jewish communities of Algeria—communities that, within just three decades, would relocate almost entirely to France and Israel.
Portions of the ledger appear to have been written earlier in Tzfas by a previous emissary who prepared a list of donors he knew, for the present emissary. The present emissary added updates next to various names, such as “deceased, ” “relocated, ” or “impoverished.”
It seems the emissary was
Rabbi Yosef Chai HaLevi, whose name appears multiple times in the ledger. He was one of the Rabbanim of Tzfas during the era of the Saba Kadisha, Rabbi Shlomo Eliezer Alfandari. Gifted with wisdom and charm, he served for several years as an emissary on behalf of Tzfas institutions, with the support of the city’s leaders. He passed away in 1938, just a few years after the journey so extensively documented here. In one entry in the present ledger, he eulogizes his close friend Rabbi David Chai Edrei of Tzfas (who passed away on 20 Iyar 1932).
Tzfas?–Algeria, 1932–1933.
Page count: [107] written pages, plus blank leaves. Multiple writers.
Size: Small ledger, measuring 16.2 cm.
Condition: Good. Several detached pages and a few stains. Original binding (slightly loose).
