Lengthy letter handwritten and signed by R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski. Druskininkai [a spa city near Vilna], 13th Elul 1932.
Addressed to R. Yechezkel Abramsky, a rabbi in London and an intimate associate of his. Most of the letter relates to R. Yisrael Soloveitchik's mission to South Africa, to assist the rabbis in Russia left behind the Iron Curtain.
R. Chaim Ozer responds to R. Abramsky's suggestion to have the Chafetz Chaim sign a fundraising announcement for South Africa. R. Chaim Ozer debates the issue, taking into consideration the uncertainties and possible damage arising from such an announcement, but dismisses the concerns because of the need to do what can be done for the Jews of Russia, and says he will have the Chafetz Chaim sign. He asks R. Abramsky for assistance with the formulation of the announcement [as he did on another occasion – see: Kedem, Auction 99, Lot 204].
R. Chaim Ozer also expresses his joy at R. Abramsky's efforts to have the writings of their teacher R. Chaim of Brisk printed, which "I am always bothered his sons, the great rabbis, have not published". He also expresses his joy for R. Abramsky's ongoing Chazon Yechezkel commentary on the Tosefta.
R. Chaim Ozer concludes with a Ketivah VaChatimah Tovah blessing and his signature.
In the margins of the letter, R. Chaim Ozer adds a greeting (with a second signature) to R. Yisrael Soloveitchik. R. Yisrael Soloveitchik, a rabbi of South Africa (d. 1951), son of R. Avraham Baruch Rabbi of Smolensk and cousin of R. Yitzchak Ze'ev Soloveitchik, the Brisker Rav – See Lot 203.
R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski (1863-1940) was a foremost rabbi of his generation and leader of European Jewry. He was the son of R. David Shlomo Grodzinski Rabbi of Iwye. He was renowned from his childhood for his exceptional brilliance. He entered the Volozhin yeshiva at the young age of 11, and became a disciple of R. Chaim of Brisk. At the age of 24, he was appointed rabbi and posek of Vilna, succeeding his father-in-law R. Eliyahu Eliezer Grodnansky, a posek in Vilna (son-in-law of R. Yisrael Salanter). He assumed the yoke of public leadership from a young age, and his opinion was conclusive on all public issues which arose throughout the Jewish world for close to fifty years.
The recipient of the letter,
R. Yechezkel Abramsky (1886-1976), was a confidant and agent of R. Chaim Ozer of Vilna ever since developing close ties with him in his youth while studying under his influence in Vilna. In winter of 1806, the "prodigy of Masty" Yechezkel Abramsky was forced to leave the Telshe yeshiva and flee to Vilna (then under Polish rule) to avoid conscription to the Russian army. In Vilna he was accepted into the Ramailes yeshiva and joined the elite class of students who attended the advanced lectures of R. Chaim Ozer (based on Melech BeYofyo, pp. 29-33).
While subsequently serving as Rabbi of Smilavichy and Slutsk, he served often as R. Chaim Ozer's agent in various communal affairs. R. Abramsky smuggled the manuscript of Part I of his Chazon Yechezkel from Slutsk to his teacher R. Chaim Ozer in Vilna, who was involved in its publication in Vilna, 1925. When R. Abramsky was arrested by the Soviets and sent to Siberia in 1930, R. Chaim Ozer made every possible effort to release him. After his release in 1931, R. Chaim Ozer and the Rebbe Rayatz of Lubavitch joined with R. Abramsky to initiate the project of sending Pesach flour and food packages to Jews under the Bolshevik regime in Russia. Likewise, R. Abramsky was active on missions for R. Chaim Ozer for yeshivas in Poland and Lithuania and for rabbis of Europe. They also cooperated on many public issues, including the struggles for Jewish marriage and against the anti-Semitic laws in Germany and Europe forbidding Jewish shechitah (requiring stunning animals before slaughtering, which renders the meat non-kosher), and on rescue activity for rabbis and yeshivas who fled as refugees to Vilna at the start of the Holocaust. The present letter reflects some of their cooperation on wide-ranging public activities.
[1] leaf. Official stationery. 26 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, wear and folding marks. Marginal tears.
