Letter from R. Chaim HaLevi Soloveitchik, Rabbi of Brisk, addressed to a community leader in Turkey. Brisk (Brest), 7th Tevet [December] 1908.

Semi-cursive (Rashi) and square script, apparently handwritten and signed by a scribe, with original stamp of the sender: "Chaim HaLevi Soloveitchik – Brisk Litovsk".

Addressed to Mercado de Alpila, apparently a rabbi and community leader in Turkey who was a member of the electoral body of the Chief Rabbi (Chacham Bashi). The letter discusses the elections to Chief Rabbi of Constantinople, which excited controversy throughout the Jewish world revolving around the attempt to unseat Chief Rabbi Moshe HaLevi of Constantinople, considered a G-d-fearing individual and great Torah scholar, in favor of R. Chaim Nachum, educated in the Alliance Israélite Universelle school in Paris.

The letter is partly identical to the one addressed the same day to R. Refael Saban, a leading Turkish rabbi (see enclosed material).

The present letter contains a sort of historical essay on the history of the rabbinate and Jewish leadership over the generations, and its degeneration in the 18th century as a result of the spread of the Haskalah movement.

After describing how Torah observance degraded as a result of unfit leadership, R. Chaim goes on to describe the critical importance of the elections for the future of Sephardic Jewry: "Hearing of the news in Turkey regarding the rabbinate, with two different characters running for election to the rabbinate in Constantinople… we were moved, knowing that the secret lot of Sephardic Jewry will be cast. Life and death are before them, whether to remain fully devoted to G-d and His Torah, or whether, G-d forbid, evil is portended for them, and they are about to be destroyed by a root bringing forth poison and bitterness".

He concludes the letter with blessings and a signature.

[1] leaf. Official stationery. 28 cm. Written on both sides. Fair-poor condition. Stains. Wear and detached tears (slightly affecting text). Repaired with wide acid (transparent) tape, covering large portions of leaf.