Five letters from R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, addressed to R. Yechezkel Abramsky, a rabbi of London and his intimate associate. Vilna, Sivan and Tamuz 1939.

Some letters handwritten and signed by R. Chaim Ozer, others written by R. Chaim Ozer's scribes with some lines in his handwriting and with his signature. The letters discuss various public and private affairs: allocation of funds for Polish yeshivas and Torah institutions, matters relating to the Vilna and London Beit Din (agency in sending a document of divorce, by R. Chanoch Henich Eiges, the Marcheshet), printing Responsa Achiezer Part III and R. Chaim Ozer's health condition, inquiring into a surgery undergone by R. Abramsky's eldest son, assistance for medical expenses of R. Yitzchak Ze'ev Soloveitchik, the Brisker Rav, and more.

The letter from 21st Sivan (on postcard) contains blessings for the recovery of R. Abramsky's eldest son and asks for an update on his health condition. The letter from 26th Sivan (also on postcard) expresses satisfaction that the surgery went well and adds further wishes for his recovery. In the letter from 6th Tamuz R. Chaim Ozer adds on the margins of the letter his satisfaction at the improving condition of his son and adds further wishes for his recovery.

In the letter from 6th Tamuz, R Chaim Ozer discusses the assembly that accepted R. Abramsky's proposal to send a representative to London for some months so that the Polish yeshivas receive less than their fair share in tzedakah distribution, who was to be either the "Rabbi of Krynki" [R. Chizkiyahu Yosef Mishkovsky] or R. Yosef Shuv [administrator of the Vaad HaYeshivot].

In the same letter R. Chaim Ozer discusses the need for financial support for the medical expenses of the R. Yitzchak Ze'ev Soloveitchik, the Brisker Rav. He also mentions that he asked R. Elchanan Wasserman and R. Aharon Kotler to involve themselves in another matter.

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.

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. When the Brisker Rav fell sick with asthma, R. Abramsky followed R. Chaim Ozer's directive to raise funds for his medical expenses, as mentioned at the end of one of the present letters (see further in the previous lot). The present letters reflect some of their cooperation on behalf of the Polish yeshiva world.

5 letters, two on postcard and three on official stationery. Varying size and condition. Overall good condition.