Auction 105 Books | Letters and Manuscripts | Esther Scrolls and Jewish Ceremonial Art
Collection of Letters from Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski – On the Anti-Shechitah Laws in Poland – 1938
Opening: $2,500
Sold for: $10,625
Including buyer's premium
Six letters from R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, regarding the law proposed in the Polish Sejm to forbid Jewish shechitah. Vilna, Adar-Iyar 1938.
The letters are addressed to his intimate associate R. Yechezkel Abramsky, and relate to various issues. All of the letters discuss the struggle to preserve kosher shechitah in Poland, faced with the law proposed by the anti-Semitic parties in the Polish Sejm outlawing shechitah.
In the first letter, dated Thursday eve, 21st Adar II 1938, he writes (in scribal writing, with one line and signature handwritten by R. Chaim Ozer) that a parliamentary committee had decided to outlaw shechitah, and would turn the bill over to the Sejm for a vote, and he shares his severe appraisal of the gravity of the situation. R. Chaim Ozer asks R. Abramsky to speak with Chief Rabbi Hertz, and alludes to ways of applying diplomatic pressure.
R. Chaim Ozer goes on to report on the improving health condition of their friend R. Yitzchak Ze'ev Soloveitchik, the Brisker Rav, who was still suffering from asthma and was advised by his doctors to travel for his health. R. Chaim Ozer goes on to mention the delivery of food to the Jews of Soviet Russia. He concludes with a blessing, in his handwriting and with his signature. In the margins of the letter are two lines handwritten and signed (with initials) by his relative R. Aharon Dov Alter Voronovsky – confidant, scribe and secretary of R. Chaim Ozer.
In the second letter, dated Motzaei Shabbat, 24th Adar II (handwritten by a scribe, with one line handwritten and signed by R. Chaim Ozer), he reports on the passing of the anti-Semitic law in the Polish Sejm on Friday, completely outlawing shechitah. Although the law still had to be approved by the Senate in order to take effect, R. Chaim Ozer encourages R. Abramsky to address the issue as soon as possible, without delaying a single day. R. Chaim Ozer concludes with his handwritten blessings and signature.
In the third letter, dated Thursday eve, 28th Adar II 1938, he writes (handwritten by his scribe, with a line handwritten and signed by R. Chaim Ozer) that the law was not yet passed to the Senate, and was temporarily postponed. He mentions a public fast day announced in his city and Warsaw. He mentions that the danger is still impending, and that the government opposes the law, but its opposition has been weakening. He mentions a letter he wrote to Chief Rabbi Hertz and mentions the name (in initials) of a British lord who was prepared to discuss the issue two years earlier. He writes further about the anti-shechitah laws in Germany, Sweden and Denmark, noting the difference from the Polish law: the proposed Polish law didn't require stunning of animals, nor did it permit kosher slaughter after stunning, but simply banned shechitah outright, simply to cause difficulty for Jews. He concludes with a line and blessings in his handwriting, with his signature. In the margins of the letter is another line handwritten and signed (with initials) by his relative R. Aharon Dov Alter Voronovsky – confidant, scribe and secretary of R. Chaim Ozer.
In the fourth letter, dated the next day, Thursday, 28th Adar II 1938, R. Chaim Ozer writes (in his handwriting, with his signature) about R. Abramsky's plan to travel from London to Vilna to support the struggle, in response to a letter R. Abramsky had sent earlier which he received that day. He writes that he doesn't understand R. Abramsky's plan, repeating his message from the previous day that the Polish law has nothing to do with stunning or with animal welfare, and was only intended to exclude Jews from the meat business. He asks R. Abramsky to let him know if he still intends to visit, concluding with Passover blessings in his handwriting and with his signature.
In the fifth letter, dated 5th Iyar 1938, he writes (handwritten by his scribe, with a line handwritten and signed by R. Chaim Ozer) that the shechitah issue is extremely serious and should not be delayed. He goes on to discuss transfer of funds for Torah institutions. R. Chaim Ozer concludes with a line in his handwriting, with his signature.
In the sixth letter, dated 23rd Iyar, R. Chaim Ozer writes at length (in his handwriting, with his signature), regarding the anti-shechitah law, which was delayed to a parliamentary session in the beginning of June, leaving two to three weeks for action, and encourages him to strengthen the government's opposition to the laws, which may at least bring about a temporary delay. He encourages him to have Chief Rabbi Hertz continue to work on the issue without delay.
He goes on to discuss budgets and transfer of funds to Torah institutions, expressing his dismay that the Chorev network of schools was removed from the budget. He also discusses the efforts to save the Rabbi of Shklow and allow him to emigrate from Soviet Russia. He concludes with blessings and his signature.
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 (then under Polish occupation) 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, by 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 world-spanning efforts 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 halachah, public and private affairs and assistance to rabbis.
6 letters, on official stationery. Varying size and condition. Overall good condition.
Letters
Letters