Seven lengthy V-mail letters from R. Yitzchak Ze'ev Soloveitchik, the Brisker Rav, addressed to his friend R. Yechezkel Abramsky, head rabbi of the London Beit Din. [Jerusalem-London], 1942-1944.
The present letters were sent by V-mail (airgraph) – a process of microfilming developed during World War II, which was used to correspond with the soldiers on the battlefront. The letters were photographed and transported as thumbnail-sized images on negative microfilm. Upon arrival at their destination, the negatives would be printed on photographic paper at approximately a quarter of the original size of the letter, and the reduced letter was delivered to the addressee. The original letter was usually discarded after being photographed in the country of origin, and the V-mail letters are generally the only remaining documentation of letters sent by this method.
Six of the original letters were handwritten by R. Yosef Dov (Berel) Soloveitchik, son of the Brisker Rav, with the full signature of the Brisker Rav: "Yitzchak Ze'ev son of… R. Chaim HaLevi Soloveitchik". The seventh letter (dated 3rd Sivan 1944), discussing relief of the yeshivas in Eretz Israel, was typewritten and handsigned by R. Isser Zalman Meltzer, the Brisker Rav R. Yitzchak Ze'ev, and R. Eliezer Yehudah Finkel.
In the letters dated Cheshvan 1942 and Tamuz 1943, he discusses the thousand children saved from the Holocaust in Poland (the Tehran children), and the Jewish Agency's plan to secularize them. In his letter of Kislev 1944, the Brisker Rav also discusses the negotiations between Dr. Weizman and the Chief Rabbi of London on the Jewish Agency's interference in education of the refugee children.
In the letter dated 18th Av 1943, he writes of the need to rescue R. Elchanan Sorotzkin, Rabbi of Zhaludok (son of R. Zalman Sorotzkin, Rabbi of Lutsk), who was "imprisoned in Siberia and sentenced to the Gulag". In his letter from Iyar 1944, the Brisker Rav writes at length to encourage rescue of Rabbis Sorotzkin and Halberstam from exile in Siberia.
In his letter of 12th Nisan 1944 regarding the printing of the notebook novellae ("tag buch") of his father R. Chaim of Brisk, R. Yitzchak Ze'ev writes that he read his letter "fully discontent with my relative R. Yisrael Soloveitchik, may he live", writing that it is hard for him to write a lengthy airgraph letter on the issue, and that he would write another letter by normal post on the matter (see Lot 78 for the complete letter on this issue, which he concluded writing in Sivan 1944).
R. Yitzchak Ze'ev Soloveitchik, the Brisker Rav (1886-1959), son of R. Chaim HaLevi of Brisk, and grandson of the Beit HaLevi. Already at a young age, still in his father's lifetime, he was considered one of the prominent Torah leaders of the generation. In 1919 (about the age of 32), he succeeded his forefathers as Rabbi of Brisk, and with his Torah authority, he governed all religious matters in his city and the entire region. He managed to escape the Holocaust together with some of his children who fled from Brisk to Vilna, from which they immigrated to Jerusalem in 1941. His authority was recognized by the entire Torah world in Eretz Israel and abroad. His books: Chidushei Maran Riz HaLevi on the Rambam and the Torah. His oral teachings were published as Chidushei HaGriz. His teachings serve to this day as a cornerstone of in-depth yeshiva learning and form the basis for the thought of large portions of Orthodox Jewry. He was famous for his searing fear of Heaven and zeal for pure truth.
The recipient, R. Yechezkel Abramsky (1886-1976), close disciple of R. Chaim of Brisk and close friend of his son R. Yitzchak Ze'ev. Shortly after his marriage, he traveled to Brisk to study under R. Chaim, ca. 1910 (at the advice of his father-in-law R. Yisrael Yehonatan Yerushalimsky, a disciple of R. Chaim during his Volozhin period), where he stayed for some four months, after which point he became devoted to his Torah teachings for the rest of his life. While serving as Rabbi of Smilavichy, he visited his teacher R. Chaim, then staying in Minsk, for long periods, during which time he would clarify Torah topics with him. R. Yechezkel would say of his teacher R. Chaim's method of learning: "R. Chaim goes at once to the heart of the issue". R. Chaim greatly appreciated his disciple's wisdom, and in one letter he calls him a friend (Melech BeYofyo, p. 95). During those periods, R. Abramsky became a close friend of his teacher's son, R. Yitzchak Ze'ev (R. Velvele), which led to some fifty years of friendship and a close correspondence. Some of their Torah discussions and correspondence are printed in Chidushei Maran Riz HaLevi. When R. Abramsky was living in Jerusalem (after he immigrated to Israel in 1951), they met often and dealt with Torah issues and public affairs together.
In the 1930s, R. Abramsky was one of those encouraging the family members of his teacher R. Chaim Soloveitchik to accelerate the printing of Chidushei Rabbeinu Chaim HaLevi. Famously, after his expulsion from Russia to Latvia by the Bolsheviks, his first telephone call from the border telephone station was about the progress of printing the book (see Melech BeYofyo, pp. 219-221).
7 leaves. 13.5-14 cm. Printed on thin film stock. Overall good condition. Creases, folding marks and wear.
