Rabbi Freidland addresses Rabbi Guttmacher in the most lofty of terms ”To the genius of our strength, the splendor of our generation, the president of gods among us, the divine man, the holy one, may he be called the glory of the purity of his holy name”
Berlin, 1870. 21.5 Cm.
In the letter of Rabbi Nathan, he extensively discusses the sacred writings of Rabbi Elijah, which he printed in order to distribute among the Jewish people of and to enthuse hearts regarding the idea of settling the Land of Israel
Letters by him are Rare!
Rabbi Nathan Friedland was a rabbi and member of the Hibat Tzion movement, one of the fathers of the movement for settling the Land of Israel. Born in Taurig, Lithuania in 1808 where he served as a Darshan. He became one of the most prolific Zionist writers of the Chibat Tzion movement in the mid-1800s.] He was one of several writers and thinkers of the 19th century created the intellectual basis for a new Jewish state.
Rabbi Friedland grew up in the circles of Rabbi Chaim of Valozen and the Vilna Gaon and his education was permeated with tradition and affection for the "Holy Land". He became imbued with a sense of a need for action in the cause for redemption. Having become a travelling preacher in synagogues in Lithuania, he made use of his speaking abilities to become the first Zionist preacher and delivered sermons in Hebrew. He began writing to circulate his ideas and became one of the most prolific Zionist writers of his time. From the day (a half century before Theodor Herzl) he realized the necessity of settling the holy land he dedicated all his time and efforts toward the execution of this idea. He became acquainted with two better known contemporaries in this endeavor, Rabbi Zvi Kalisher, Rabbi Eliyahu Gutmacher and Rabbi Yehudah Alkali. He became Kalisher’s faithful aide, and represented the "Corporation for Settling the Land of Israel, " organized committees and collected funds (the first Zionist fund raiser) made speeches and organized propaganda for the cause.
Rabbi Friedland was engaged to marry at an early age, as was custom, and moved in with his father-in-law, a scholar in Ponivar where he studied. He moved to Slant, and studied with Rabbi Zondle Slander, a student of Rabbi Chaim of Volezion.
Friedland crystallized his views in his Sefer book, Cup of Redemption and Consolation (Cos Yishuah V’ Nehemah), He believed redemption was near, but that it would be a natural one, not a miraculous one. He believed (70 years before the British were to wrest Palestine from the Turks) that an international operation would redeem the country from the Turks and turn it to the hands of the Jews. The nations would cooperate in aiding the people of Israel to return to their country because it would be their only way to escape God’s further revenge and the world would not reach peace unless the Jews returned to the Land of Israel. He traveled the world meeting well known rabbis to support his views and then went to Paris and London to try and meet Cremieux and Montefiore. He met Cremieux in Paris but was unsuccessful with him. In London, he met Albert Cohen, head of charitable affairs for the Rothschild family.
He transmitted a petition, in person, to Napoleon III, concerning establishing Jewish independence in Palestine. Napoleon responded, in a letter, that owing to political considerations with the Turks, an immediate step was impossible but as the situation changed he would act upon it. He met with the chief rabbis of France and Paris and received letters of recommendations and encouragement. He went to London and met with Moshe Montefiore who was not positive towards Friedlands’ suggestions. But the chief rabbi of England, Rabbi Nathan Adler was encouraging.
In 1870, though near destitute, lacking adequate money for his family, his brother’s family (who had died in Jerusalem), for food, clothes and travel, he continued his writing, his travels and his campaign. Despite his very poor circumstances he published another Sefer. And in 1871 he published a pamphlet in German: "Settling the Land of Israel." At the end of this pamphlet he wrote an essay stressing that living in the diaspora was totally unsafe since the Jews were subjugated to the whims of the local rulers.
In 1881, in London, Rabbi Friedland met with a Lord Shaftsberry, head of the British Missionary Association, and a Mrs. Finn, daughter of a converted Jew and widow of a former council to Jerusalem who sought to establish an association for settling in Syria. Though too old to lead this expedition, he suggested his Michail to lead it. Michael was a rabbi and shochet who was an expert in kosher slaughter and written several books. Michael did eventually lead an expedition to Syria (Palestine) but was expelled by the Turks and landed in Cyprus where his name appears on a plaque on the synagogue he established. Meanwhile, Friedland left with the first group of emigrants intending to get off on the Jaffa coast. He knew there was little chance the Turks would allow him to land. But with him on the ship was Karl Peter, an important Zionist leader who arranged for him to get permission to enter the country. He died in a short time later in 1883 in Jerusalem and is buried on Mount Olives.
The Gaon & Tzadik Rabbi Eliyahu Guttmacher Rabbi of Greiditz (1796-1875), disciple of Rabbi Akiva Eger, served as rabbi of Pleschen (Pleszew) until ca. 1840. He later went to serve as rabbi of Greiditz. His eldest son, Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh, succeeded him as rabbi of Pleschen. Famed as a holy kabbalist, in his senior years his name spread throughout the Jewish world as a wonder-worker, with amazing stories circulating of the great miracles and salvations attained through the blessings of "der Greiditzer Tzaddik" (the Tzaddik of Greiditz), "from all countries people came to seek his blessings and prayers, each one according to his needs" (Igrot Sofrim, at the foot of letter 29).
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Lot #273