Date and Place: 14 Shevat 5667 (1907), Yafo

Recipient: The council of Rechovot

Body: I have come to remind people, as I have heard that certain individuals have been personally lenient in some of the agricultural moshavim, to uproot grapevines on the holy Shabbat, by having non-Jews do the work. There is no need to explain to anyone who strictly follows Torah law that it is a clear prohibition to have a non-Jews perform on Shabbat prohibitions that are well-known to relate to a Jew. For anyone who has the feeling of Judaism live in his heart, there is no need to explain the disgrace and degradation that is connected to it and the desecration of Hashem’s Name which emanates from the desecration of the holy Shabbat.

Therefore, I would request of your honors to make a public pronouncement in my name that it is forbidden to do uprooting on Shabbat even by paying non-Jews a set price for their work.

Hashem should give us the merit of seeing the building of His nation in the Holy Land, so that there is planting and not uprooting, building and not destruction. May our eyes see this and our heart rejoice speedily in our days, Amen.