Date and Place:
25 Elul 5670 (1910), Yafo
Recipient and Background:
Rav Yaakov Moshe Charlop, upon being appointed the rabbi of the new Sha’arei Chesed neighborhood of Jerusalem. I have seen earlier dating for his appointment to this position and do not know if he was appointed in stages.
Body:
My heart is joyful with the good news that, thank G-d, “he who guarded the fig tree will eat its fruit” (Mishlei 27:18). May you stand in good health, “well-fed” and fresh, as you look after the sacred on the holy mountain until the time that a new song will be written, when the Temple will return to the holy city on the lofty, holy mountain.
May you be blessed as you enter the position of the rabbinate within the holy community, and may all enjoy the light of your Torah and your fear of Hashem. May the pleasantness of Hashem be upon you and upon them. “As soon as a Torah scholar is present, there is blessing” (see Berachot 42a). Fortunate are your congregants, that their lot fell upon a righteous man, a man among men with a pure heart and a straight path, a person who has everything in the realm of Torah and pure fear of Hashem with excellent attributes.
Please send these sincere words of blessing to the holy community who “encamp around your flag.”
