Letter from the Chida – With Blessings in His Handwriting and With His Signature

Letter from the Chida – With Blessings in His Handwriting and With His Signature
Letter from R. Chaim Yosef David Azulai – the Chida.
Most of the letter is in Spanish, and it concludes with two lines in Hebrew, handwritten and signed by the Chida. The letter was presumably sent to the Vaad Pekidei Kushta (committee based in Constantinople centralizing the financial assistance to the residents of Eretz Israel), and mentions the appointment of the Chida as emissary on behalf of the Hebron community; an appointment which was authorized by the Vaad Pekidei Kushta.
At the foot of the letter in Spanish, the Chida added blessings in his handwriting: " Blessings of goodness, as our forefathers Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov were blessed... May He take them and carry them everlastingly, and their sons forever, as princes in the entire land, for eternal life", followed by the Chida's famous calligraphic signature: " Chaim Yosef David Azulai".
The Chida – R. Chaim Yosef David Azulai (1724-1806) was a leading halachic authority, Kabbalist, outstanding Torah scholar, prolific author and famous emissary. Born in Jerusalem to R. Refael Yitzchak Zerachya Azulai, a Jerusalem scholar and great-grandson of the kabbalist R. Avraham Azulai author of Chesed LeAvraham. From his early years, he was a disciple of leading Jerusalemite Torah scholars and kabbalists, including R. Chaim ben Attar, the Or HaChaim. He began studying kabbalah at the Beit El Yeshiva for kabbalists headed by R. Shalom Mizrachi Sharabi – the Rashash, alongside with his colleague R. Yom Tov Algazi.
In 1753, he embarked on his first mission as emissary on behalf of the Hebron community. During the course of his five years of travel, he passed through Italy, Germany, Holland, England and France. During this mission, his name began to spread. Wherever he traversed, he attracted a great deal of attention and many acknowledged his greatness. In 1773, the Chida embarked on an additional mission on behalf of the Hebron community, leaving a profound imprint on all the places he visited. At the end of this journey, he settled in Livorno, Italy, serving there as rabbi. In Livorno he published most of his books.
The Chida was among the greatest authors of all times and composed more than 80 works in all facets of Torah, including his composition Birkei Yosef, a commentary on the Shulchan Aruch which greatly impacted the field of halachic rulings. His books were accepted throughout the Diaspora, and were regarded with great esteem. The majority of his compositions were written while he was preoccupied with his travels or other matters, and with access to very few books, and this attests to his tremendous erudition and phenomenal memory. In each city the Chida visited, he would inspect the local libraries and search for unknown manuscripts and compositions written by prominent Torah scholars. Due to the great respect and admiration he evoked, he was granted authorization to enter large libraries and museums, such as the National Library of France, where he spent many hours copying important manuscripts. The vast knowledge he gleaned during these opportunities pervade all his books, particularly his bibliographic masterpiece Shem HaGedolim.
[1] leaf. 27 cm. Good condition. Some stains. Folding marks.