Collection of letters, documents, manuscripts, drafts, proofreading leaves for the book Divrei Aharon and books, from the arcive of the Teplik Rabbi - Shimshon Aharon Polonsky
Letters by various rabbis and people sent to the Teplik rabbi: from Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer (Torah correspondence, on the book Even HaEzel); Rabbi Zvi Pesach Frank; Rabbi Yisrael Ze'ev Mintzberg; Rabbi Ya'akov Moshe Charlap; Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Henkin; Rabbi Ya'akov Kalmas, the Rabbi from Moscow (2 letters of Torah thoughts, 6 large pages); Rabbi Chaim Ya'akov Levine (letter of Torah thoughts); and more - see additional details in Hebrew description.
Rabbi Shimshon Aharon Polonsky (1876-1948), a leading Torah authority in his times, served in the Teplik rabbinate and was a foremost rabbi of the Volhynia district (Ukraine). In 1922, he immigrated to Jerusalem and served as Rabbi of the Beit Yisrael neighborhood. He was one of the greatest Torah authorities of Jerusalem and many illustrious rabbis observed and served him to receive their own ordination. Throughout his life, he was associated with the family of the Zvhil rebbes. During his last years, he was weak and ill and his grandson Rabbi Nachum Tolkatzov, together with his disciples assisted him in editing his book Divrei Aharon which was printed in Jerusalem in Kislev 1948. He died in Sivan 1948, in the midst of the Israeli War of Independence and was buried in the temporary cemetery in Sheikh Badr [Givat Ram in Jerusalem, in which his friend Rebbe Gedalya Moshe Goldman of Zvhil, was also later buried].
More than 130 items, including more than 60 letters. Size and condition vary.

Manuscript, register with records of the supporters of the "General Talmud Torah and Etz Chaim Yeshiva" and the Bikur Holim Hospital. Jerusalem, 1906-1914.
Title page illuminated with golden and colored ink. The register has inscriptions from 1906-1914, with more than 1500 names of donors from various US cities.
191 leaves (all written, with the exception of a few blank pages). 31.5 cm. Good condition. Few stains. Wear to binding.
Provenance: Collection of Willy Lindwer.

Four notebooks of protocols of meetings and conclusions of the managers of the Ezrat Cholim Society [Sick Aiding Society] committee in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, from its nascent years, 1924 until 1937.
Four notebooks of various sizes according to the following division: Notebook 1: 1924-1926. Notebook 2: 1926-1929. Notebook 3: 1929-1932. Notebook 4: 1933-1937.
The Ezrat Cholim Society was founded in Tel Aviv in 1924 by a number of devoted public activists headed by Moshe ben Ezra and by Eliyahu Algazi. Later the primary activist was the Chacham Rabbi Bechor Ya'akov Papula, secretary of the Chief Rabbinate in Tel Aviv (see: Shevet V'Am 7, p. 173). Its first president was the Rishon L'Zion Rabbi Ben Zion Meir Chai Uziel. The poet Ya'akov Rimon served as the society's secretary for many years. R' Ezra Cohen Pirchia, father of Kabbalist Rabbi Chaim Cohen, called the "milkman" was among the society's members and his signature appears on quite a few protocols from 1929.
At the beginning of the first notebook is the first protocol in which the founding of the society was determined. After a while, Eliyahu Algazi acquired a structure on 18 Zevulun St. where he established an infirmary with modern equipment and competent doctors (see inside these ledgers and in the Encyclopedia of the Founders and Builders of Israel, Vol. 13, p. 4280). These notebooks contain historical material of the chronicles of the Sephardi community in the Tel Aviv.
4 large notebooks, 21-27 cm. Good condition.

Long, interesting autograph letter signed by Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Bloch, sent from Telz to Jerusalem in the course of World War II, to his uncle and mechutan Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin. Telz, [Shevat 1941].
At the peak of those horrific times, Rabbi Baruch Sorotzkin [son of Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin] married his relative Rebbetzin Rachel, daughter of his cousin Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Bloch [Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin and his uncle Rabbi Y.L. Bloch were both sons-in-law of the founder of the yeshiva, Rabbi Eliezer Gordon]. Immediately following their marriage, the couple embarked on the journey from war-torn Lithuania to the US via Siberia and Japan.
Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Bloch wrote to his uncle: "Our dear children have left Kovno on Wednesday and today I have received a telegram from the capital city [Moscow?] that they have arrived safely…we have decided that they should travel through the east because we have received notice that they have received immigration affidavits to enter the US…". Further in the letter he writes of various rescue efforts for attaining visas and travel permits for the yeshiva students and their families.
Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Bloch (1890-1941), Av Beit Din of Telz and head of the Telz Yeshiva. Third generation of deans of the Telz Yeshiva, second son of the author of Shi'urei Da'at, Rabbi Yosef Leib Bloch, and grandson of Rabbi Eliezer Gordon, the yeshiva's founder. From his youth, he was renowned for his exceptional talent and in-depth study. In 1920, at the age of 30, he was appointed head lecturer and head of yeshiva [in the lifetime of his father], and after the death of his father in Cheshvan 1929, he was appointed head of yeshiva and his father's successor in the city rabbinate. After the Nazi conquest in the summer of 1941, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak was brutally murdered by the Nazis near Telz, together with hundreds of the yeshiva's students and their rabbi and with most of his family and community.
Some of his novellae were published in the book Chiddushei Rabbeinu R' A.Y. of Telz. In the introduction to the book, he is described as "a Torah teacher who merited fame in his own generation by his amazing discourses which displayed comprehension and depth of Torah knowledge".
Of all his children, only three daughters survived the Holocaust. One was Rebbetzin Rachel Sorotzkin, wife of Rabbi Baruch Sorotzkin who was appointed to head the Telz Yeshiva in Cleveland, Ohio in the US.
Official stationery, 2 written pages, 28.5 cm. Good-fair condition, wear, filing holes and small tears.