Auction 101 Part 2 Chassidut and Kabbalah | Jerusalem Printings | Letters and Manuscripts | Objects

Letter of Deans of Etz Chaim Yeshiva – Securing Immigration Permit for Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer – Jerusalem, Sivan 1924

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Letter signed by deans of Etz Chaim yeshiva, R. Yechiel Michel Tucazinsky and R. Shlomo Zalman Zalaznik. Jerusalem, 23rd Sivan 1924.

Addressed to the Chief Rabbinate of Eretz Israel, asking to accelerate the processing of documents for R. Isser Zalman Meltzer, "Rabbi and yeshiva dean of Slutsk, presently yeshiva dean of Kletsk, coming to Jerusalem as yeshiva dean of the Etz Chaim yeshiva in Jerusalem, accompanied by his son Mr. Tzvi Hirsch, 18 years old".
R. Isser Zalman Meltzer's immigration to Eretz Israel in 1924 was the beginning of the historical move of the leaders of Lithuanian yeshivas to Eretz Israel. It was followed by the immigration of the Slabodka, Lomza and Novardok yeshivas. Along with these moves, the local yeshivas in Jerusalem began to study in the intellectual tradition of R. Chaim of Brisk, carried by the yeshiva deans of Lithuania.

R. Isser Zalman Meltzer (1870-1953), author of Even HaAzel. A leading Torah scholar of Lithuania and Jerusalem, he was born in Mir and studied in the Volozhin yeshiva under the Netziv and R. Chaim of Brisk, who esteemed him highly. After his marriage he served as the first yeshiva dean of the Knesset Yisrael yeshiva in Slabodka along with R. Moshe Mordechai Epstein, and later moved to Slutsk where he established a large yeshiva and subsequently succeeded the Ridvaz as Rabbi of the city. He immigrated to Jerusalem in 1924 and was appointed dean of the Etz Chaim yeshiva. He was also a leader of Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah, and father-in-law of R. Aharon Kotler, dean of Kletsk and Lakewood yeshivas.

[1] leaf. Official stationery. 28 cm. Good condition. Stains and folding marks.