Lot 268
Letter by Rabbi Eliezer Rabinowitz Av Beit Din of Minsk, Son-in-law of the Gadol of Minsk
Long interesting autograph letter signed by Rabbi Eliezer Rabinowitz Av Beit Din of Minsk. Minsk, 1915.
Sent to Rabbi Yosef Av Beit Din of Svislach, responding to a proposal of a match suggested by the rabbi for Rabbi Eliezer's daughter. Includes many details concerning this matter. At the beginning, he expresses his "deep gratitude for the great trouble you undertook in doing chessed physically and monetarily concerning my matter, you did much and spoke little…".
Rabbi Eliezer Rabinowitz (1859-1924), a leading Torah scholar of his times, outstanding prodigy, famous for his exceptional cleverness. Many complex Torah issues were referred to him and he participated in the rabbinical conventions in St. Petersburg at which public issues were discussed. At the time he studied in Slutzk from the author of Beit HaLevi and later in the Volozhin Yeshiva he was dubbed the "Gaon of Kiev". Son-in-law of Rabbi Yerucham Leib "The Great Rabbi of Minsk", author of Or Gadol, he succeeded him in the Minsk rabbinate. He became one of the most prominent Lithuanian rabbis and also earned the title of the "Great Rabbi of Minsk". After the communist revolution began in 1917, the rabbi was jailed in a Russian prison and eventually released, but this did not dampen his spirit and he continued leading his community as before, in spite of the persecution by the governing rulers. The remnants of his Torah novellae were covertly smuggled from Russia and printed in the book Mishnat Eliezer (Jerusalem, 1962). [See: HaGadol M'Minsk, pp. 88-91; Rabboteinu SheBagola, Vol. 1, pp. 96-98].
Approximately 3 written pages. 20.5 cm. 47 handwritten lines. Good-fair condition. Wear to paper folds. On the second leaf is a tear to the fold with adhesive tape marks.
