Auction 96 Early Printed Books, Chassidut and Kabbalah, Books Printed in Jerusalem, Letters and Manuscripts
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Assorted collection of letters and recommendations given to R. Naftali Hertz Rogol. Lithuania, Jerusalem and elsewhere, 1930s-1980s.
• Letter of recommendation from R. Avraham Tzvi Grodzinski, director of the Ramailes yeshiva in Vilna. Vilna, Elul 1933.
R. Avraham Tzvi Hirsh Grodzinski (ca. 1857-1937), eldest son of R. David Shlomo Rabbi of Iwye, and elder brother of R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski. He served for close to fifty years as dean and director of the Ramailes yeshiva in Vilna.
• Letter of recommendation from R. Reuven Chadash, Rabbi of Halshany. Halshany (Lithuania, present-day Belarus), [ca. 1930s].
• Letter from R. Bentzion Bamberger, mashgiach at the Ponevezh yeshiva. Bnei Brak, 1965.
• Letter from Moshe Yoel Walkin (on the stationery of his father R. Shmuel Walkin), with an enclosed photocopy of a letter of recommendation he had received from R. Moshe Feinstein.
• Letter of recommendation from three rabbis calling to assist R. Naftali Hertz Rogol, who was visiting the sick and helping them lay tefillin. At the top of the leaf, letter from R. Binyamin Yehoshua Silber, to which R. Yosef Shalom Elyashiv added several handwritten lines and his signature, and to which R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach appended a handwritten assent with his signature. [Jerusalem], Tamuz 1984. Additional handwritten inscriptions by R. Naftali Hertz Rogol (the recipient of the recommendation).
• Letter of thanks from R. Yaakov Rakovski, rabbi of the Hadassah hospital, in the name of the hospital administration and patients. Jerusalem, Adar II 1984.
• Letter of recommendation from R. Gavriel Ginsburg, Rabbi of the Tiferet Moshe congregation (Kew Gardens, New York), recommending R. Naftali Hertz for his daily lectures. Tamuz 1979.
• Enclosed: • Certificate from R. Shmuel Brom, Rabbi of Luzern, for A. Grossman, declaring him qualified to supervise kosher meat. Luzern, Elul 1929. German.
9 items, including 8 signed letters. Varying size and condition. Some repaired with tape and with open tears affecting text.
Postcard sent to R. Yosef Shalom Elyashuv (Elyashiv), with letters handwritten and signed by R. Chaim Kanievsky and his wife Rebbetzin Batsheva. Bnei Brak, [27th Tishrei, 1982].
In his letter, R. Chaim Kanievsky seeks to clarify the veracity of a ruling reported in R. Yosef Shalom's name disqualifying a lulav ending in a single leaflet, signing his name at the end.
In the margins of R. Chaim's letter, his wife Rebbetzin Batsheva sends her warm regards to all, with her signature. She then adds that she enjoyed her visit with them and that she hopes to meet again soon, signing her name a second time.
The letter was printed along with a facsimile in the periodical Yeshurun (XXVIII, Nisan 2013).
R. Chaim Kanievsky (1928-2022), leading rabbi of the present generation, only son of the Steipler Gaon, R. Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, and preeminent son-in-law of R. Yosef Shalom Elyashiv.
His wife, Rebbetzin Batsheva Kanievsky (1932-2012), eldest daughter of R. Yosef Shalom Kanievsky. The match between the two was concluded upon the advice of the groom's uncle, the Chazon Ish, who attested that as a daughter of a veritable Torah scholar, she was truly suited for him. R. Elyashiv later retold that when he consulted the Chazon Ish about the match, the latter praised the prospective groom profusely, even predicting that R. Chaim would one day be an outstanding Torah scholar renowned for his breadth of knowledge, just like the Rogatchover. When R. Elyashiv related this decades later, he added that at the time, it seemed to him that the Chazon Ish was overstating, as is customary for matchmaking, but in truth the prediction of the Chazon Ish was realized in full.
The Steipler, father of R. Chaim Kanievsky, held his mechutan R. Elyashiv in high regard, and would refer to him halachic questions and names to be mentioned in prayer and for blessings. He even sent people to be blessed by his daughter-in-law Rebbetzin Batsheva Kanievsky, as a woman of holy lineage. Over the years, her great abilities were publicized, and many experienced salvations as a result of her prayers and blessings. Thousands of women flocked to Rebbetzin Batsheva, seeking her heartfelt encouragement and wise counsel.
Postcard. 14.5 cm. 11 lines handwritten and signed by R. Chaim, and about 7 lines handwritten and signed by Rebbetzin Batsheva. Good condition. Stains and postmark stains.
Collection of 18 letters on postcards, handwritten by R. Chaim Kanievsky. Bnei Brak, [1999-2001].
Short, concise responses to various questions on Torah matters and halachic customs, sent to R.Y.B. Goldenthal of Kiryat Sefer. At the end of one of the letters R. Chaim writes: "I put your money in tzedakah, and if you want you can come and take it". In one of the letters he writes to him: "There are many details in your questions that are difficult to answer in writing; when you are in Bnei Brak we will speak, God willing". In another letter he writes: "I didn't really understand some of the questions, visit when you are in Bnei Brak" [this is what he habitually answered when the question was too complicated to answer in brief on a postcard].
On all of the postcards, the name of the sender "Chaim Kanievsky" and the name and address of the recipient are in R. Chaim Kanievsky's handwriting.
18 postcards. 14.5 cm. Overall good condition. Stains and postmarks.
Large assorted collection of over fifty letters written and signed by famous rabbis and Torah scholars. Eretz Israel and elsewhere, ca. 1920s-1990s.
See Hebrew description for list of rabbis.
51 letters. Varying size and condition. Overall good condition.
Collection of letters handwritten and signed by R. Shlomo Yosef Zevin – six letters with interesting contents, from various periods and addressed to various people.
• Letter to the Heichal HaTalmud yeshiva administration, in which R. Zevin suggests delivering a lecture on the commentaries on the Mishnah by R. Meir Simchah HaKohen of Dvinsk, author of Or Sameach, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his death. Tel Aviv, Elul 1936.
• Letter to R. Meir Berlin (Bar-Ilan) on a team working on editing a book being published by R. Berlin. Tel Aviv, 1935.
• Letter of R. Meir Bar-Ilan on the Union of Russian Refugee Rabbis. Jerusalem, Elul 1948.
• Letter (2 pages) to R. Yitzchak Eizik HaLevi Herzog, Chief Rabbi of Israel, who had asked him to examine a Yiddish translation of the Talmud. [Jerusalem], 1951.
• Letter to R. Yehudah Leib Levin, Chief Rabbi of Moscow, on transferring his mother Chayah Zevin's remains from her grave in Kiev (where she had been buried 40 years earlier), as the city's cemetery was about to be removed. [Jerusalem], Sivan 1963.
• Lengthy Torah letter to his grandson Nachum [Zevin]. Jerusalem, [Cheshvan] 1964.
R. Shlomo Yosef Zevin (1886-1978), a leading Chabad rabbi in Russia and Eretz Israel. Ordained by the Rogatchover and Rebbe Shemaryahu Noach Schneersohn of Babruysk, he succeeded his father as Rabbi of Kazimirovo and several other communities. He was a prolific writer, editor of the Talmudic Encyclopedia, and a member of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate Council.
6 letters, all on official stationery. Varying size and condition. Overall good condition.
Collection of documents, letters, posters and notices from the rabbinate and community institutions in Buenos Aires, in Hebrew and Yiddish, most addressed or related to R. Yaakov Fink, Rabbi of Argentina and Haifa. Buenos Aires and elsewhere, 1940-1970.
The items include:
• A Ketubah from Buenos Aires, 1941, with a confirmation signed and stamped by R. Yaakov Fink in 1952.
• Divorce document, approval of divorce and appointment of agent, from Buenos Aires, 1959, signed by R. Shmuel Yaakov Glicksberg, Rabbi of Buenos Aires, and other rabbis.
• Prayer for inauguration of the Jewish National Fund by R. Yaakov Fink. Typewritten.
• Printed poster, notice of a sermon by R. Yaakov Fink, vice president of the Mizrachi in Buenos Aires, on March 18, 1943. Yiddish.
• Handwritten notebook, congratulations for the wedding of R. Yaakov Fink in 1941, with dozens of signatures by rabbis and students of the Buenos Aires Torah school.
• Certificate for R. Yaakov Fink's activity as director of the Institute for Jewish Studies in Buenos Aires, from 1951.
• Letters sent to R. Yaakov Fink on rabbinic and communal matters.
R. Yaakov Fink (1902-1984) studied under R. Meir Arik and R. Yosef Engel, as well as in other renowned Galician yeshivas and the Berlin Rabbinical Seminary. At the start of the Holocaust in 1939, he fled to Argentina, where he was appointed Rabbi and began to establish yeshivas, Torah schools, mikvaot and other Jewish necessities. His Beit Din addressed many questions of divorce and agunot in the wake of the Holocaust. He later served as Rabbi of Brazil and again as Chief Rabbi of Argentina. In 1963 he immigrated to Eretz Israel and was appointed dayan and head of the Haifa Beit Din.
41 items. Varying size and condition.
Collection of letters and documents from rabbis and public figures, mainly from South America, most sent to R. Yaakov Fink from 1940-1986.
The letters include:
• Letter from R. Ze'ev Tzvi HaKohen Klein, Rabbi of Eisenstadt, Berlin and Buenos Aires. [Buenos Aires, ca. 1940s].
• Letter of R. Yeshayah David Briskman. Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), 1951.
• Two letters from R. Natan David Rosenblum of Apta. Avellaneda (Argentina), 1951-1955.
• Letter from R. Yehoshua Segal Deutsch, Rabbi of Adat Yisrael in Montevideo and Katamon. Jerusalem, 1953.
• Three letters from R. Shmuel Yaakov Glicksberg, Rabbi of Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires, 1958-1959.
• Ten letters from R. Nechemiah Berman, Chief Rabbi of Uruguay, including a letter of consolation addressed to R. Fink's family after his passing. Buenos Aires, 1964-1986.
• Three letters from R. Yosef Zolty, Rabbi of Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires, 1965.
• Two letters from the Sephardic Chief Rabbinate, signed by R. Moshe Chehebar. Buenos Aires, 1965.
• Letter from R. Yerachmiel Blumenfeld, Rabbi of Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), 1966.
• Two letters from R. Avraham Mordechai Hershberg, Rabbi of Mexico City and president of the Latin American Rabbinical Center. Mexico, 1968.
• Three letters from R. Shmuel Aryeh Levin, dean of the Chafetz Chaim yeshiva in Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires and Bnei Brak, 1969-1972.
• Letter from R. Yosef HaKohen Oppenheimer, Rabbi of the Achdut Yisrael community. Buenos Aires, 1972.
• And more.
R. Yaakov Fink (1902-1984) studied under R. Meir Arik and R. Yosef Engel, as well as in other renowned Galician yeshivas and the Berlin Rabbinical Seminary. At the start of the Holocaust in 1939, he fled to Argentina, where he was appointed Rabbi and began to establish yeshivas, Torah schools, mikvaot and other Jewish necessities. His Beit Din addressed many questions of divorce and agunot in the wake of the Holocaust. He later served as Rabbi of Brazil and again as Chief Rabbi of Argentina. In 1963 he immigrated to Eretz Israel and was appointed dayan and head of the Haifa Beit Din.
33 items. Varying size and condition.
Manuscript booklet (8 pages), two Torah novellae essays. Starobin, [ca. 1900s-1910s].
Especially fine writing [apparently by a young man]. First four pages containing a pilpul on yibum and gid hanasheh. A second essay is concerned with halachic documents and presumption of ownership.
The script and style appear to belong to a young man, but the penetrating understanding and comprehensive knowledge displayed give the impression of being written by one of the prodigy sons of R. David Feinstein, Rabbi of Starobin, who was appointed Rabbi of the city in 1907: R. Yaakov Feinstein, R. Yissachar Dov Ber Feinstein (the shochet in Starobin), R. Moshe Feinstein (the "prodigy of Starobin", later author of Igrot Moshe) or R. Mordechai Feinstein (later Rabbi of Shklow). The author was unlikely to be their older brother R. Avraham Yitzchak Feinstein (father of R. Yechiel Michel Feinstein) who was already married when their father moved to Starobin.
[2] double leaves (8 written pages). Good condition. Stains, wear and folding marks.
Leaf handwritten and signed by R. Yehudah Aszód – confirmation of sale of a seat in the synagogue in Senica. Senica, 1849.
The document names the seller and buyer and states that the seat was sold after the customary announcement three times.
R. Yehudah Aszód (1796-1866), a foremost rabbi and yeshiva dean in Hungary. A disciple of R. Aharon Suditz and R. Mordechai (Maharam) Benet. He was appointed rabbi of Semnitz (Senica) and Szerdahely (Dunajská Streda), at the initiative of the Chatam Sofer.
[1] double leaf. 17 cm. Good condition. Some stains. Folding marks and wear.
Letter on postcard handwritten and signed by R. Eliezer Deutsch, Rabbi of Bonyhád. Bonyhád, [Iyar 1913].
Sent to R. Binyamin Ullman, son of R. Shlomo Zalman Ullman, Rabbi of Makó, author of Yeriot Shlomo. In the letter, he asks him to send him Yeriot Shlomo as soon as possible, since he wanted to cite the author's ideas in his own booklet. [In another letter auctioned by Kedem (auction 95, lot 287), R. Eliezer Deutsch thanks him for sending the book and mentions that he cited the author].
R. Eliezer Chaim Deutsch, Rabbi of Bonyhád (1850-1915), leading Hungarian posek, disciple of R. Yehudah (Mahari) Aszod and Maharam Ash.
Postcard. 14x9 cm. Good condition. Stains. Postmarks of Bonyhád and Alsóvalkó (Valcău de Jos).
Letter on Postcard (more than 4 lines) handwritten and signed by Rebbe Chaim Elazar Shapiro, the Minchat Elazar. [Munkacs, 1934].
Sent to the philanthropist R. Eliezer Bollag of Baden. On the postcard appear two letters from the Rebbe, a short one in his own handwriting, and a second more detailed one in the name of the Rebbe, handwritten by his attendant.
The Rebbe's letter is written in brief with many abbreviations: "With the help of God, I greet my dear friend, exceptional and outstanding etc.… Chaim Elazar Shapiro". On the margins of the page appears the Rebbe's stamp (in Latin script).
On the reverse side of the postcard is an additional letter from the Rebbe's attendant, R. Chaim Dov Grünfeld – "writing at the command of the Rebbe": "…And I was instructed by the Rebbe to give a loving response, that he is entreating and praying for… May the Creator of cures and salvations send His holy assistance and heal her, and may she be saved from evil dreams and all fears, and may she be saved in all her wishes for good and blessing…".
Rebbe Chaim Elazar Shapiro (1872-1937), the Minchat Elazar, was a leading Torah scholar, halachic and Chassidic authority and kabbalist. Son of Rebbe Tzvi Hirsch Shapiro, author of Darchei Teshuvah, and grandson of Rebbe Shlomo Shapiro, author of Shem Shlomo (both Rabbis of Munkacs), he was born to the dynasty of Rebbe Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov, the Bnei Yissachar. He fought for the holiness of Judaism, and his halachic and kabbalistic teachings are studied all over the world. Author of Minchat Elazar, Shaar Yissachar, Nimukei Orach Chaim, Divrei Torah in nine parts, and more.
Postcard. 15X10.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Postage stamps and postmarks.
Letter handwritten and signed by Rebbe Yisrael Tzvi Rottenberg of Koson. Koson, 1938.
Addressed to Rebbe Baruch Yerachmiel Rabinowitz, Rabbi of Munkacs and the Kollel Munkacs administration. The Rebbe asks them to negotiate a compromise with the Kollel scribe from Jerusalem, who sued the administration in Beit Din and won. He states that it would be inappropriate for them to let someone work for them grudgingly, and enjoins them to make sure he does his work wholeheartedly by settling the matter with him. The letter is labeled as a "copy", but by comparison with his other manuscripts, the "copy" can also be identified as being written in the handwriting of the Or Male.
Rebbe Yisrael Tzvi HaLevi Rottenberg of Koson, author of Or Male (1890-1944; perished in the Holocaust), son of Rebbe Yehosef Rottenberg, Rabbi and first Rebbe of Koson, and son-in-law of his elder brother Rebbe Chaim Shlomo Rottenberg, second Rebbe of Koson. Rebbe Yisrael succeeded his father and brother as Rebbe and Rabbi of Koson, and he also established a yeshiva there.
[1] double leaf. Official stationery. 23 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, including dampstains and ink stains. Wear and folding marks.