Bidspirit auction | WILOWSKY, YA’AKOV DOVID. (Ridva’z, 1845-1913).

WILOWSKY, YA’AKOV DOVID. (Ridva’z, 1845-1913). Autograph Letter Signed written in Hebrew. Communal contention concerning Kollel America of Jerusalem. One page. (Tzfat), c.1896. R. Ya’akov Dovid Wilovsky (commonly known as the Ridvaz) held several rabbinical posts including Chief Rabbi of Slutsk where he appointed R. Isser-Zalman Meltzer as principal of his Yeshiva. From 1903 to 1905 he lived in America, a period he found dismaying due to broad religious laxity. Afterwards he settled in Tzfat where he established the yeshiva Torath Eretz Yisrael. He is renowned for his extensive novellae on the Talmud Yerushalmi. With the blessing of R. Yehoshua Leib Diskin, Kollel America was founded in 1897 as a means of support for the 500 or so Jews from the United States who had settled in Jerusalem. Subsequently, Jews back in America were called upon to assume financial responsibility for their countrymen residing in the Holy City. This engendered division with the administration of Jerusalem’s Vaad HaKlali (Central Charity Committee) presided over by Rabbi Shmuel Salant, which had until then been solely responsible for the collection and distribution of all funds for all the needy residents of Jerusalem. The concern was that funds for Jerusalem raised in America should be steered toward the benefit of all residents of the Holy City and not just for fellow-countrymen. This protracted disagreement was finally resolved by rabbinic mediation between Kollel America and the Va’ad Kellali Kneseth Yisrael-Kupath Ramban (R. Meir Baal Haness) at a meeting chaired by the Ridvaz.