Auction 98 Early Printed Books, Chassidut and Kabbalah, Books Printed in Jerusalem, Letters and Manuscripts, Jewish Ceremonial Art
Lengthy letter (2 pages) handwritten and signed by R. Aharon Kotler, dean of the Lakewood yeshiva in the United States. Tamuz 1962.
Addressed to R. Yechezkel Abramsky. A historical letter relating to the Aliyah of Orthodox youth, which had been organized by the Pe'ilim organizations in an effort to spiritually save the immigrants from Morocco and Arab lands, when the secular establishment was acting to secularize the young immigrants in various ways and send them to kibbutzim and secular educational institutions. The letter names rabbis and activists worldwide whom R. Aharon enlisted in this battle for the souls of Moroccan and Mizrachi immigrants. Most of the letter relates to institutions for the immersion of new immigrants, including the Afula office for immigrants and the special airplane for Torah-observant immigrant youth used by Pe'ilim – funded by the Orthodox Jewish organizations from Europe and the United States.
R. Aharon Kotler (1892-1962), disciple of the Alter of Slabodka, and a prominent, outstanding Torah scholar (while he was still a young student, the Or Sameach predicted that he would be the "R. Akiva Eger" of the next generation). He was the son-in-law of R. Isser Zalman Meltzer. He served as lecturer and dean of the Slutsk yeshiva, and during World War I, he fled with the yeshiva students to Poland, reestablishing the yeshiva in Kletsk. He was one of the yeshiva deans closely associated with R. Chaim Ozer and the Chafetz Chaim. A founder of Vaad HaYeshivot and member of the Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah in Lithuania. During the Holocaust, he escaped to the United States, and established the famous Lakewood yeshiva in New Jersey (a yeshiva which revolutionized the yeshiva world in the United States, by inculcating its students with the passion and absolute devotion to Torah study which was typical of Lithuanian yeshivot). He was one of the heads of the Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah in the United States, and of Chinuch HaAtzma'i in Eretz Israel.
The present letter, written in the last months of R. Aharon's life, reveals his manifold involvement in the struggle for the young Mizrachi immigrants whose religious parents sent them off hoping they would receive a religious education. R. Aharon openly fought the secular Aliyah organizations who uprooted the young immigrants from their family traditions, going so far as to initiate an independent airline for immigration of religious youth in opposition to the Jewish Agency's dominance – an act which elicited controversy and anger among the establishment and secular parties in Israel.
Official stationery, 28 cm. Written on both sides, over 40 handwritten lines. Good-fair condition. Stains, including dampstains. Creases and folding marks.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
Letter Handwritten and signed by R. Eliezer Silver, Av Beit Din of Cincinnati and head of the presidium of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada. [Cincinnati], Iyar 1964.
Sent to Jerusalem, addressed to R. Yechezkel Abramsky, head of the Beit Din of London, who had asked him to act against the plan to grant recognition and authority to perform gittin and kiddushin to liberal and Reform rabbis immigrating from the USA to Israel, which according to him, could potentially undermine the sanctity of the country and encourage assimilation. R. Silver then writes about various actions to be taken in the USA and Israel to ensure the success of this effort. At the bottom of the letter, after his signature, R. Silver writes about his plan to come to Jerusalem that summer to participate in the Fifth World Congress of Agudath Israel.
R. Eliezer Silver (1882-1968), one of the greatest rabbis in the USA and a leader of Orthodox Judaism. Son of R. Bunim Tzemach, Av Beit Din of Obeliai, northern Lithuania. Known from his youth as a prodigy and exceptional Torah scholar, he was a disciple of the Or Sameach and the Rogatchover Gaon in Dvinsk, and later of R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski and R. Chaim of Brisk.
In 1907, he immigrated to the USA, where he served as rabbi of several communities. In 1931, Silver was appointed rabbi of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he served until his last day. In 1932, he was elected president of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada, a position he held for over thirty-five years, and was considered the highest rabbinic authority in the USA during all those years.
In 1939, he established a branch of Agudath Israel in the USA and was its first president. During the Holocaust, R. Silver was the initiator and head of the "Vaad Hatzalah" of US rabbis, which worked worldwide to save Jews from the Nazis. R. Silver was among the leaders of the Rabbis' March in Washington in 1943, in which more than 400 rabbis marched to the steps of the Capitol, demanding more decisive action by the US government to save European Jewry.
[1] leaf, official stationery. 28 cm. Good condition. Folding marks.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
A letter handwritten and signed by R. Yaakov Yitzchok HaLevi Ruderman, dean of the "Ner Israel" Yeshiva in Baltimore, USA. [Baltimore, ca. Av 1960].
Sent to Jerusalem to Rabbi Yechezkel Abramsky, head of the Beit Din of London, on the occasion of receiving his new book "Chazon Yechezkel" on the Tosefta for Tractate Niddah and Tractate Mikvaot (Jerusalem, 1960).
Rabbi Ruderman writes: "...Your Honor has made me rejoice in the joy of Torah with his great book on Niddah and Mikvaot, which I have just received, and the whole house was filled with light". At the bottom of the letter.
Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchok HaLevi Ruderman (1900-1987) was an extraordinary genius, one of the first and greatest deans of Yeshivas in the USA, a leader of Orthodox Jewry and one of the heads of the "Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah" in the USA. He was one of the greatest students of the "Alter of Slabodka" who shaped his character, when he studied in his youth at the Slabodka Yeshiva and was known as the "Prodigy from Dołhinów". His father was R. Yehuda Leib Ruderman, rabbi of Dołhinów (a Hasid of the Rebbe Rashab of Lubavitch).
In 1924, he married the daughter of R. Sheftel Kramer (brother-in-law of R. Moshe Mordechai Epstein and R. Isser Zalman Melzer; one of the founders and heads of the New Haven Yeshiva – the first yeshiva in the USA established in the pure tradition of European yeshivas).
After printing his book "Avodat Levi" in Kėdainiai in 1930, R. Ruderman immigrated to the USA and served as rosh mesivta in the New Haven Yeshiva. In 1933, he moved to Baltimore to serve as rabbi of the "Tiferes Yisroel" community, where he established the "Ner Israel" Yeshiva, which to this day is one of the central yeshivas in the USA.
From the 1950s, R. Ruderman was counted among the heads of the "Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah" in the USA, together with his colleagues R. Aharon Kotler, R. Moshe Feinstein, and R. Yaakov Kamenetsky. In 1956, he signed together with the great Roshei Yeshiva in the USA on the absolute prohibition of any cooperation with the Reform and Conservative movements in American Judaism.
[1] leaf. Official stationery. Approx. 26.5 cm. Good condition. Minor stains and folding marks.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
![Letter signed by R. Yitzchak Hutner, dean of the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin in the United States. [Brooklyn?], Tevet 1972.](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale98/238.jpg "Letter from Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner, the Pachad Yitzchak – Brooklyn, 197")
Letter signed by R. Yitzchak Hutner, dean of the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin in the United States. [Brooklyn?], Tevet 1972.
Typewritten with his signature. Addressed to R. Yechezkel Abramsky, the Chazon Yechezkel, in Jerusalem. Apologizing for leaving Jerusalem without a farewell, R. Huntner writes of his hope that the lack of a farewell signifies a speedy return to Jerusalem, and at any rate asks for R. Yechezkel's parting blessing from a distance.
R. Yitzchak Hutner (1906-1980), and as one of the heads of the Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah in the United States. studied in his youth in the Slabodka yeshiva in Lithuania and in Hebron. In 1932, he published Torat HaNazir, which amazed the Torah world with the original scholarly depth produced by such a young man. Two weeks after his marriage, he immigrated to Eretz Israel and settled in the Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem, where he resided for one year. In 1934, he moved to the United States, where he served as dean of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin in New York for many years. He was renowned for his thought-provoking halachic lectures and for his intellectual discourses on character traits and duties of the heart, delivered to a few select individuals, and later published in the Pachad Yitzchak series.
1 leaf, official stationery. 28 cm. Good condition. Stains and folding marks.
Not published in Pachad Yitzchak – Igrot Uketavim.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
Lengthy letter (4 pages) handwritten and signed by R. Mordechai Gifter, dean of the Telshe yeshiva. Cleveland, Ohio, [10th Tevet] 1958.
Addressed to R. Yechezkel Abramsky at the publication of his Chazon Yechezkel on Tosefta Tractate Nedarim. On the first page he describes his dear disciple who had died young, and to whom the edition was dedicated. The next three pages relate to Torah matters, comments on Chazon Yechezkel and novellae on Tractate Nedarim.
R. Mordechai Gifter (1916-2001), a prominent yeshiva dean and Torah leader in the United States. Born in the United States, he travelled to Lithuania to study in its yeshivas. Already in his youth, he drew close to the Torah leaders of his times, absorbing from them Torah and proper conduct. He exchanged halachic correspondence with leading rabbis in the United States and Lithuania. He returned to the United States just before the Holocaust, after his engagement to the daughter of R. Zalman Bloch, dean of the Telshe yeshiva in Lithuania, and the wedding was held in the U.S. in 1940. After the Holocaust, he reestablished the Telshe yeshiva in the U.S. (together with his uncles R. Eliyahu Meir Bloch and R. Chaim Mordechai Katz, who had come on their own to the U.S. to try and save their families and the yeshiva students who were left behind in Telshe).
R. Mordechai served as lecturer in the Telshe yeshiva in Cleveland and Chicago from 1943, and later as dean of the yeshiva in Cleveland. He imparted to his students exacting standards of profound Torah study and correct Torah conduct (he did not allow any titles of praise on his tombstone except for "taught Torah and edified students of high caliber in Torah and fear of G-d"). In 1976, he immigrated to Eretz Israel and settled in the campus founded for the yeshiva in the Jerusalem hills (presently: Telz Stone; Kiryat Ye'arim). In 1979, after the passing of R. Baruch Sorotzkin the yeshiva dean in the U.S., he returned to the U.S. to lead the yeshiva in Cleveland. He was recognized throughout the Jewish world as one of the authorities of his time, and he served as head of the Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah in the United States.
2 leaves, written on both sides. Official stationery, 20.5 cm. Good condition. Folding marks.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
Letter on postcard (6 lines), handwritten and signed by R. Nachum Partzovitz, a dean of the Mir yeshiva. [Jerusalem, Elul 1976].
Letter of consolation and Shanah Tovah, sent to the Abramsky family upon the passing of their great father (R. Yechezkel Abramsky, d. 24th Elul 1976), concluding with a signature.
R. Nachum Partzovitz (1923-1986), disciple of R. Baruch Ber Leibowitz and R. Elchanan Wasserman, later a student of the Mir yeshiva in Mir and Shanghai. Son-in-law and successor of R. Chaim Shmulevitz, dean of the Mir yeshiva. A leading Torah disseminator in his times.
Postcard. 14.5x8.5 cm. Good condition. Dampstains and inkstains from postmark.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
Letter handwritten and signed by R. Yehuda Zeev Segal, dean of the Manchester Yeshiva. Nisan 1960.
Sent to Jerusalem to R. Yechezkel Abramsky, formerly rabbi in London. R. Segal takes interest in the welfare of the rabbi and his rebbetzin and writes that the yeshiva in Manchester is flourishing in numbers and quality and sends his best wishes for the upcoming holiday (Passover).
Aerogram. Approx. 20 cm. Good condition. Folding creases. Tears from opening the letter.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
![Letter (6 lines) handwritten and signed by R. Chaim Kanievsky. [Bnei Brak], Iyar 1996.
Approbation to a new edition of Chaz](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale98/242.jpg "Letter of Approbation and Blessings by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky – Bnei Br")
Letter (6 lines) handwritten and signed by R. Chaim Kanievsky. [Bnei Brak], Iyar 1996.
Approbation to a new edition of Chazon Yechezkel on the Tosefta, by R. Menachem Ezra son of R. Yechezkel Abramsky, author of the work.
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 voluminous books are classics of the Torah world, and they make heavy use of books of the Chazon Yechezkel.
1 leaf. 20.5 cm. Good condition. Folding marks.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
![Collection of 14 letters on postcards, handwritten by R. Chaim Kanievsky. Bnei Brak, [1995-1997].
Short, concise responses](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale98/243_1.jpg "Fourteen Letters Handwritten by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky – Bnei Brak, 199")
![Collection of 14 letters on postcards, handwritten by R. Chaim Kanievsky. Bnei Brak, [1995-1997].
Short, concise responses](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale98/243_2.jpg "Fourteen Letters Handwritten by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky – Bnei Brak, 199")
![Collection of 14 letters on postcards, handwritten by R. Chaim Kanievsky. Bnei Brak, [1995-1997].
Short, concise responses](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale98/243_3.jpg "Fourteen Letters Handwritten by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky – Bnei Brak, 199")
![Collection of 14 letters on postcards, handwritten by R. Chaim Kanievsky. Bnei Brak, [1995-1997].
Short, concise responses](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale98/243_4.jpg "Fourteen Letters Handwritten by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky – Bnei Brak, 199")
![Collection of 14 letters on postcards, handwritten by R. Chaim Kanievsky. Bnei Brak, [1995-1997].
Short, concise responses](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale98/243_5.jpg "Fourteen Letters Handwritten by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky – Bnei Brak, 199")
Collection of 14 letters on postcards, handwritten by R. Chaim Kanievsky. Bnei Brak, [1995-1997].
Short, concise responses to various questions on Torah matters and halachic customs, sent to R. Y. Wormser of Bnei Brak.
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.
14 postcards. 14.5 cm. Overall good condition. Stains and postmarks.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
Large collection of 28 letters – blessings and wishes for the wedding of R. Shlomo Noach Krol (later rabbi of Moshav Chemed and dean of Chemdat Shmuel yeshiva, son of R. Mordechai Shmuel Krol, rabbi of Kfar Chassidim), and Gita, the daughter of R. Yaakov Landau, Rabbi of Bnei Brak. Israel and New York, 1954.
Most letters handwritten on official stationery; some on aerograms or postcards; some typewritten.
28 letters. Size and condition vary. Overall good condition.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
Large collection of letters sent to the Ezrat Torah organization in the United States and its director, R. Yosef Eliyahu Henkin, from yeshiva deans, rabbis and public figures worldwide: Eretz Israel, the United States and other countries, 20th century.
Over 120 letters. Varying condition. Overall good condition.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
![Letter of the "Yenuka", Rebbe Yisrael Perlow of Karlin-Stolin. Stolin, [Elul, ca. first decade of 1900s].
Scribal](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale98/246.jpg "Letter of Rebbe Yisrael Perlow of Karlin, the \"Frankfurter\" – Shanah T")
Letter of the "Yenuka", Rebbe Yisrael Perlow of Karlin-Stolin. Stolin, [Elul, ca. first decade of 1900s].
Scribal writing with the Rebbe's signature – "Yisrael son of R. Asher". Sent to his relative R. Asher HaLevi, confirming receipt of pidyon money. The Rebbe blesses him and his family: "…And may my blessing be fulfilled: may God grant him a complete recovery from all his ailments, may he have much satisfaction from all his offspring, may they live for good and long days, and may they all be blessed with a good year and may they all be remembered as one to be written immediately for life, as is the wish of his relative seeking his welfare with much love, blessing them with a Ketivah VaChatimah Tovah and Shanah Tovah, Yisrael son of R. Asher".
Rebbe Yisrael Perlow of Karlin-Stolin, known as "the Yenuka" (1868-1921), orphaned from his father R. Asher of Stolin and appointed rebbe at the young age of four and a half (!). Son-in-law of R. David Twersky of Zlatopil. He passed away at the age of 53, and was buried in Frankfurt, thus earning the appellation of "the Frankfurter" amongst Karlin Chassidim. He left behind six sons – Rebbe Moshe of Stolin, Rebbe Avraham Elimelech of Karlin, Rebbe Yochanan of Lutzk, Rebbe Yaakov of Detroit, R. Aharon of Warsaw and R. Asher of Stolin – along with four daughters. All his descendants were killed in the Holocaust, apart from his sons Rebbe Yaakov Chaim Perlow, who passed away in Detroit, United States in 1946, and Rebbe Yochanan Perlow of Lutzk and the United States (1900-1956), grandfather of the present rebbes of Karlin-Stolin and Lutzk, the last surviving lines descending from the Yenuka.
[1] double leaf. 10.5x13 cm. Good condition. Stains. Folding marks and creases.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.