Five letters from R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, addressed to his disciple and intimate associate, R. Yechezkel Abramsky, head of the London Beit Din. Vilna, Shevat, Adar and Nisan 1937.
The letters were partially written by two of R. Chaim Ozer's scribes, with several lines handwritten and signed by R. Chaim Ozer – who signs over six times.
Enclosed in addition are two copies of halachic responsa from R. Simchah Zelig, head of the Brisk Beit Din (handwritten by R. Chaim Ozer's scribes).
The letters relate to various matters – halachic issues and public and private affairs (including consolation for the passing of his father R. Mordechai Zalman Abramsky – who had lived in Żołudek, Poland (present-day Zhaludok, Belarus), in his old age, and passed away in early Shevat 1937.
In the letter dated 12th Shevat, R. Chaim Ozer writes that on the previous Thursday "I wrote you a letter of consolation. I also informed you of what I responded to R. Ferber regarding civil marriage. Now yesterday, I received a telegram from the Beit Din asking for my opinion on a Get where the signed witnesses and the agent don't remember the case… but in the ledger of the Beit Din they found that the husband appointed the attendant as an agent for transporting the Get…". R. Chaim Ozer writes that due to his faintness, it is hard for him to study this topic.
In the letter dated 12th Adar, R. Chaim Ozer goes on to discuss the issue of testimony by the judge in the Beit Din ledger. He apologizes that he doesn't have a decision on the issue, and he adds that he wants to consult with "another great person, and we will decide the case together with you". [R. Chaim Ozer appears to have consulted R. Yitzchak Ze'ev Soloveitchik, the Brisker Rav, and the head of the Brisk Beit Din and senior posek R. Simchah Zelig Reguer; see below].
On the margins of the letter, R. Chaim Ozer writes that the sending of matzah to Russian rabbis for Pesach has been delayed, and asks Mr. Keiser "to send it directly to the rabbis whose addresses I will provide…".
In the letter dated 7th Nisan, R. Chaim Ozer discusses the law mandating stunning of animals before slaughtered, and the trouble due to the expert opinion of Dr. Ehrenpreis of Stockholm "who addressed the government ministers [in Sweden], telling them that there is no prohibition to stun animals before shechitah". R. Chaim Ozer asks R. Abramsky "to stay vigilant, and perhaps the Chief Rabbi Dr. Hertz can address Dr. Ehrenpreis asking him not to do such a thing, which… could cause serious damage to our people throughout the Jewish diaspora…". He goes on to discuss the assistance to the Ramailes yeshiva in Vilna, mentioning that "A.M. Keiser sent, at my request, packages for Pesach needs to seventy rabbis in Russia. R. Goodman also sent thirty packages. Thank G-d, I managed to return and send to all those who sought and requested it from there…". R. Chaim Ozer concludes with Pesach blessings: "I sign with much blessing, the blessing of the upcoming holy festival, in accordance with your pure desire and that of your friend, esteeming and respecting you, Chaim Ozer Grodzinski".
On verso of letter dated 7th Nisan, additional letter signed by R. Chaim Ozer, on the same topic of agency in a Get: "As for your question regarding the Get, I informed the head rabbi of the Beit Din there [R. Yitzchak Ze'ev Soloveitchik] via the yeshiva dean of Brisk and to R. Simchah Zelig, and enclosed is his second responsum and his first letter. Although what he says has not been made clear to me, and I responded to him about this, nevertheless I saw fit to send you his letters…".
The copy of R. Simchah Zelig's first responsum is written on R. Chaim Ozer's official stationery. R. Simchah Zelig writes: "In my opinion, you should write to hurry R. Yechezkel to deliver the Get, so that this will not become an irremediable situation…".
In the continuation (in the month of Nisan), R. Simchah Zelig writes an additional letter on the issue, citing various traditions he had received on similar cases regarding reliability based on writing, in the name of R. Akiva Eiger, the Beit HaLevi and R. Refael Shapiro, and regarding the question of a conditional Get given by a man on his deathbed, "in the lifetime of the our master and teacher, the Gaon" [R. Chaim of Brisk]. He writes that in his opinion the Get can be delivered, "and in my opinion there is no question about the matter, since the truth is that he is an agent. Therefore I said to R. Naftali son of R. Elchanan [Wasserman] that to me there is no question in the matter…". [These two letters of R. Simchah Zelig were published in Moriah, VIII, issues 4-5 (88-89, Elul 1978, pp. 18-21].
In a letter dated Erev Pesach, R. Chaim Ozer writes regarding support for yeshivas and Dr. Ehrenpreis' actions regarding stunning animals. In the margins, R. Chaim Ozer adds his decision regarding the above question regarding the Get [these letters were printed in the above issue of Moriah, and from there were printed in Responsa Achiezer, IV, Bnei Brak 1986 – sections 55-56].
In the letter dated the third day of Chol HaMoed Pesach, R. Chaim Ozer writes to R. Abramsky: "Regarding the Get, in my opinion it isn't proper to print a booklet specifically dealing with this question, because there will be those who object and appeal, nor has it been the practice to print one for each question. But if you eventually manage to publish a dedicated responsa work, or to add some booklets from your novellae on Tosefta Nashim, you should do so".
At the end of the letter from Chol HaMoed Pesach, he discusses the activity to rescue "R. Avraham Eliyahu Maizis of Kremenchuk, who has been imprisoned in Moscow…".
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 letters, 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 [which was then under Polish control] to avoid conscription to the Russian army. In Vilna he was accepted into the Ramailes yeshiva and joined the elite class of students who listened to 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, through his confidant R. Aharon Dov Alter Voronovsky (R. Abramsky's wife's cousin). 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 on behalf of 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 letters reflect some of their cooperation on wide-ranging public activities.
Three of the present letters have lines added, handwritten and signed (with his initials) by R. Abramsky's relative – R. Aharon Dov Alter Voronovsky (perished in the Holocaust) was a secretary and confidant of R. Chaim Ozer, and served as a scribe for his many letters. In 1925 R. Alter published Part I of his cousin R. Abramsky's Chazon Yechezkel from a manuscript smuggled from Russia. His father was R. Yitzchak Yaakov Voronovsky, author of Chelkat Yaakov (d. 1904), who served as Rabbi of Mush (Novaya Mysh) for 25 years, succeeding his father-in-law R. Yaakov Moshe Direktor Rabbi of Mush (grandfather of R. Abramsky's wife).
5 letters on official stationery (comprising 8 leaves, including 10 written pages). Varying size. Overall good to fair-good condition. Stains, tears and wear.
