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For your consideration is an original signed institutional letter issued by Yeshivat Ofakim, formally associated with Yeshivat Torat Chaim in Ofakim, Israel, dated 14 Av 5735, corresponding to 22 July 1975. Written in Hebrew on the yeshivas official bilingual Hebrew-English letterhead, the letter is addressed to the Religious Council of Petah Tikva and acknowledges receipt of a charitable contribution of 650 Israeli lira. It is personally signed in ink by Rabbi Yosef Goldental, a founder and longtime head of the institution, and discusses the increasing financial burden of maintaining and expanding the yeshiva.
Yeshivat Ofakim was established in 1963 by Rabbi Yosef Goldental together with Rabbi David Stern and Rabbi David Zvi Katzburg as a Torah educational institution serving Ofakim and the surrounding northern Negev. Founded less than a decade after the establishment of Ofakim as an Israeli development town, the yeshiva became part of the emerging religious and educational infrastructure of a community then undergoing rapid growth. The present letter documents the practical network of charitable assistance through which established religious bodies, including the Petah Tikva Religious Council, supported Torah institutions operating beyond Israels principal urban centers.
More than a routine receipt, the letter records the specific financial pressures affecting the institution. Rabbi Goldental acknowledges the contribution while explaining that construction and operational expenses had risen significantly, placing additional demands upon the yeshivas resources. The correspondence consequently provides a contemporary account of the fundraising, construction, and financial challenges involved in sustaining religious education in the Negev during the mid-1970s, while demonstrating the direct involvement of Goldental in the institutions administration and development.
One page, typed in Hebrew on official bilingual Yeshivat Ofakim letterhead, dated 14 Av 5735, or 22 July 1975, and signed in ink by Rabbi Yosef Goldental. The sheet measures approximately 6 9 inches and remains in very good condition, with a central filing fold, archival punch holes, light handling wear, and minor age-related marks consistent with institutional office use. Combining an identifiable rabbinic signature, a documented charitable payment, and substantive content concerning the development of a Negev yeshiva, it is an uncommon primary-source record of religious education, philanthropy, and institution-building in Israel during the 1970s.
