Handwritten leaf, copying of an engagement agreement, with handwritten confirmation with signature and stamp of R. "Shimon Yehudah HaKohen Shkop", dean of the Shaar HaTorah yeshiva in Grodno. Grodno, 23rd Sivan 1938.

Copying of an engagement agreement (dated Isru Chag Pesach 1938) of Dov son of R. Yitzchak Akiva Oberstein and Rachel daughter of R. Baruch Dov Pollak. The money was placed in escrow with R. Yechezkel Abramsky, head of the London Beit Din. The engagement was made dependent on receipt of money and a visa for the couple to immigrate to England.

Two lines at the end are handwritten and signed by R. Shimon Shkop, confirming the copying is accurate.

R. Shimon Yehudah HaKohen Shkop (1860-1939) a leading Torah scholar and transmitter of the Torah in Lithuanian yeshivas. He was a disciple of R. Chaim Soloveitchik in the Volozhin yeshiva, who instructed him in his intricate and profound methodology of Torah study. At the age of 24, he was appointed dean of the Telshe yeshiva (founded by his uncle R. Eliezer Gordon), where he transmitted his innovative method of logical study – an approach dominating the Torah world to this day. One of his foremost disciples from that period was R. Elchanan Wasserman. He served as Rabbi of Bryansk and Malech. In 1920, he was called to head the Shaar HaTorah yeshiva in Grodno and served as the Rabbi of the Vorstadt suburb of Grodno. His works include: Shaarei Yosher, Maarechet HaKinyanim and Chiddushei R. Shimon Yehudah HaKohen, which serve to this day as basic guides to in-depth yeshiva study.

[1] leaf, 22.5 cm. Written on both sides. Good-fair condition. Stains and folding marks.