Autograph letter signed by Rabbi Aryeh Leib Karo. Nachod (Bohemia), [ca. 1780].
Letter of recommendation for Hachnasat Kalla, "for the important great man… R' Aryeh Leib son-in-law of the deceased R' Moshe Shapira". At the end of the letter he signs: "…Aryeh Leib Karo Av Beit Din of Krotoszyn, here at the Nachod community and its region".
The renowned Rabbi Aryeh Leib Karo (died 1797), Av Beit Din of Krotoszyn, Nachod and Leslau (today Włocławek, Poland), son of Rabbi Chaim Karo Av Beit Din of Łęczyca, son of Rabbi Yitzchak Zelig Karo Av Beit Din of Hanover and its region. The family decended from the Karo family of Prague and Spain [Rabbi Yosef Karo, author of the Shulchan Aruch descended from this illustrious family]. Rabbi Aryeh Leib was one of the most famous Torah scholars of his times. He served as Av Beit Din of the city of Krotoszyn, from which he fled with his family to Nachod, Bohemia, following a blood libel which spread on Erev Pesach. After a short term in the Nachod rabbinate [he would still sign "Av Beit Din of the Krotoszyn community" - as apparent in this letter], he was accepted to the Leslau rabbinate, a position he held until his death. Maharal Tzinz mentions in his book Mayanei HaChochma of his meeting with "the late great Rabbi Aryeh Leib Karo" in the city of Leslau. He left behind a number of halachic and aggadic works and only 50 years after his death, some of his teachings were printed in the book Eil Milu'im (Krotoszyn 1845), which he himself described in his testament as "wonder of wonders of the truth of Torah".
19X27 cm. 9 long handwritten lines. Good-fair condition. Wear and tears to folds and margins.

Two letters sent from the Crimean Peninsula, to Rabbi Yitzchak son of the Bahritz. Av Beit Din of Boston - An interesting letter from his brother regarding his visit to Karasubazar (Bilohirsk) to the author of the Sdei Chemed, and a letter from the author of the Sdei Chemed himself:
· Letter with two signatures of Rabbi Chaim Chizkiyahu Medini author of Sdei Chemed. Scribal writing, full signature in the middle of the letter: "Chaim Chizkiya'u Medini". Following the signature, he continues the letter and writes about the brother of the recipient of the letter and praises his "Torah and piety - he is truly a very dear person, G-d fearing…". At the end is another signature in his handwriting. [Karasubazar, Crimean Peninsula], 1894.
· Long letter from the recipient's brother, Rabbi Zalman son of Rabbi Yosef, about his visit to the author of the Sdei Chemed at Karasubazar, with an interesting detailed description of his personality and of his conduct: "I have spoken to him in Hebrew because he does not understand even one word of Yiddish. With his congregation of Crimeans he speaks Tatar, which I understand just like he understands Yiddish. He was born in Jerusalem and descends from those who were expelled from Spain and speaks Spanish well. He has restricted himself to not give semicha for the past few years, but I have found favor in his eyes and he has made an exception in my case and given me semicha in Rashi script because he does not know Meshita script [cursive round Ashkenazic script]. He has signed his name in Franken script [Sephardic script, semi-cursive semi-square], which is not very different from our writing and he stamped it with his large stamp. However, he requested that I do not publicize it, due to those who approach him requesting (semicha), so they will not ask him what is the difference…". Simferopol (the Crimean Peninsula), 1894.
Rabbi Chaim Chizkiyahu Medini, author of the Sdei Chemed (1835-1905, Otzar HaRabbanim 6323), served in the rabbinates of Constantinople, Karasubazar and the Old City of Hebron. He was renowned for his diligence and his proficiency in revealed and hidden Torah knowledge. He corresponded with Torah leaders all over the world. He himself published the 18 volumes of his huge encyclopedic composition Sdei Chemed, and many other books.
2 postcards, 14 cm. Good-fair condition, wear damages to the corner of the letter of the Sde Chemed.

Bundle of 25 letters, sent to Telz Yeshiva and to its head, Rabbi Eliezer Gordon, by yeshiva alumni who were requested to send stories and memoirs for a book named Toldot HaYeshiva to be published about the Telz Yeshiva. 1909-1910.
At the end of the summer of 1909, the Telz Yeshiva published notices in Jewish newspapers (Hed HaZeman, Unzer Leben, etc.), regarding the publishing of the book Toldot HaYeshiva about the history of the Telz Yeshiva and wth a list of its alumni, their addresses and their occupation. The notices requested the alumni to send accounts of their lives: Their names, the years they studied in the yeshiva, their city of origin [at that time, most of the boys were dubbed by the name of their city and not by their surname], their present address and occupation and their spiritual and material state. [The book was never published due to the sudden death of Rabbi Gordon in England].
This collection of letters contains valuable data which sheds light on the history of the Telz Yeshiva which was the Torah center of Lithuania, descriptions of life in the yeshiva and about the lives of its alumni. Some even relate various episodes of yeshiva life and of their personal life. Also recounted are interesting facts of the meticulous rules for accepting students and of yeshiva life in those times. Hearty descriptions of diligence and in-depth study, scholarly logic and pilpul learned in the yeshiva. Many write that the time they studied in the yeshiva lit the path they tread their entire lives. The letters also contain descriptions of crises some of the students experienced during their yeshiva years, such as the polemic surrounding the musar movement, teachers who left the yeshiva, i.e. Rabbi Yosef Bloch who left to accept the position of Rabbi of Šeduva and Rabbi Shimon Shkop who left two years later to the rabbinate of Malech and Brańsk.
25 letters and postcards, size and condition vary. General condition - good to good-fair.

Autograph letter signed by Rabbi Yechezkel Berstein. Vabalninkas (Lithuania), 1913.
Sent to Rabbi Shmuel Gordon of the Telz Yeshiva, with a request to purchase the book Teshuvot Rabbi Eliezer authored by his father, Rabbi Eliezer Gordon, for the beit midrash in the city.
Rabbi Yechezkel Berstein (1889-perished in the Holocaust in Cheshvan 1941), a foremost student of the Knesset Yisrael Yeshiva in Slobodka and friend of Rabbi Reuven Grozovsky and Rabbi Daniel Movshovitz who studied at the Slobodka Yeshiva at the same time. In 1913, he married and settled in Vabalninkas, the birthplace of his great disciple Elazar Menachem Shach [author of Avi Ezri], who considered himself a "talmid muvhak" of Rabbi Yechezkel and was very close to him. The latter moved to study at the Slobodka Kollel and during World War I, exiled with the yeshiva to Kremenchuk. On their return to Slobodka, the young man Yitzchak Hutner of Warsaw [author of Pachad Yitzchak] became his close disciple.
In 1923, the Saba of Slobodka together with his son Rabbi Moshe Finkel established the Or Yisrael Yeshiva in Slobodka [which was an "intermediate yeshiva" absorbing students who graduated from Yeshivot Ketanot and after studying three years in an "intermediate yeshiva" they progressed to a yeshiva gedolah]. Rabbi Yechezkel was appointed teacher but later became the sole head of the yeshiva. His scholarly work Divrei Yechezkel printed in Kėdainiai (Keidan) in 1935 reputed him throughout the Torah world. This book was printed in many editions and became one of the basic books of yeshiva in-depth Torah study.
Postcard, 14 cm. Good condition.