Long letter (16 lines) handwritten and signed by R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski. Vilna, 17th Cheshvan 1938.
The letter is addressed to "my friends, prominent rabbis, heads of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada". At the beginning of the letter, R. Chaim Ozer requests that they assist R. Shmuel Heilperin, a rabbi of Białystok (grandson of the Oneg Yom Tov and son of R. Chaim Naftali Hertz of Bialystok), who was in dire financial straits and travelled to the United States to raise funds. Further in the letter, R. Chaim Ozer instructs the UOR to assist R. Shmuel Ehrenfeld, rabbi of Matterdorf (Mattersburg), who had fled to the United States after the Nazis invaded Austria: " At the same time, I request on behalf of R. Shmuel Ehrenfeld, rabbi of Mattersdorf, who was compelled to flee to America, and I heard that he is prominent in Torah and fear of G-d, and he is of distinguished lineage, from the family of the Chatam Sofer. It is very fitting to draw him close and to make efforts on his behalf to the extent of your ability to find him a rabbinic position, or any other holy position, and I am convinced that you will do what you can…".
R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski (1863-1940) was a foremost rabbi of his generation and leader of the entire European Jewry. He was the son of R. David Shlomo Grodzinski Rabbi of Iwye. Renowned from his childhood for his exceptional brilliance, he entered the Volozhin yeshiva at the young age of 11, and became a disciple of R. Chaim of Brisk. At the age of 24, he was appointed rabbi and posek in Vilna, in place of his father-in-law R. Eliyahu Eliezer Grodnansky posek in Vilna, son-in-law of R. Yisrael Salanter. He assumed the yoke of public leadership from a young age, and for close to fifty years, his opinion was conclusive on all public matters which arose throughout the Diaspora. Despite his numerous concerns of global communal matters, he was very active on behalf of orphans and widows, fending for all their needs. R. Chaim Ozer once commented about this in his old age: "…in my youth, I thought that the main thing was to produce novellae and author many books. Now I understand that publishing books is like child’s play compared to assisting widows and orphans" (R. Moshe Shmuel Shapiro in his eulogy on the Chazon Ish, HaBe’er, VI, p. 41). R. Chaim Ozer was particularly concerned about the needs of yeshiva students, and of rabbis who escaped from Russia, and he tried to assist them in any way he could. He also took care of rabbis and yeshivot in Eretz Israel, England and other countries. In this letter, we see his concern and his efforts to apply his influence in the United States on behalf of a prominent rabbi (with whom he was not closely acquainted, as it appears from the letter), who immigrated there in his flight from the Nazis.
[1] leaf, official stationery. 28.5 cm. Good condition. Minor stains and folding marks.

Manuscript, Yemenite-rite Tiklal siddur – prayers for weekdays and Shabbat, festivals, special days and fast days, with laws and commentaries (attributed to R. Yitzchak Wanneh). Mogamah, Yemen, 1664.
The final leaf contains an ornamented colophon of the scribe "Avraham son of Shlomo son of Yonah son of Saadia son of David son of Benayah son of Oded Al-Khalafi", who completed the writing of the siddur in Mogamah (village in the Bani Matar district, south of Sanaa, central Yemen) in Sivan 1664. The moladot calendar in this siddur also begins in 1664.
Particularly neat early Yemenite script, predominantly with supralinear vocalization. The text of the siddur, in square vocalized script, occupies the center of the page, and is flanked by laws and commentaries in separate columns on each side (and sometimes in "windows" in the text), in non-vocalized, smaller script. Some lines in these columns are decoratively arranged in diagonal or wavy patterns.
Most of the commentaries and novellae are attributed to R. Yitzchak (Mahari) Wanneh. In the margins of several leaves, there are glosses by other writers, with additional laws and commentaries.
The scribe Avraham son of Shlomo Al-Khalafi from central Yemen transcribed the siddur of R. Yitzchak Wanneh – Paamon Zahav, in 1658 in Mafhaq (Bani Matar district, south of Sanaa). He is presumably a member of the Al-Khalafi family who worked as scribes in the cities of central Yemen in the 16th and 17th centuries (Encyclopedia L'Chachmei Teiman, I, p. 275).
The manuscript includes: prayers for weekdays; prayers for year-round Shabbatot; Pirkei Avot with commentary; prayers for Passover and Passover Haggadah with commentary (attributed to R. Yitzchak Wanneh); prayers for Shavuot; Megillat Eichah with commentary and lamentations for Tisha B'Av; prayers for the High Holidays; prayers for Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret, Hoshanot, prayer for rain, Hakafot and piyyutim for Simchat Torah; order of Chanukah with Megillat Bnei Chashmona'i; Purim prayer and Megillat Esther with commentary; eulogies; selichot for Leilei Ashmorot (for the month of Elul) and El Melech and Maranot selichot (piyyutim of selichot for Yom Kippur night, beginning with the words El Melech and Maran); Yom Kippur service (by R. Avraham ibn Ezra); order of blessings, Birkat HaMazon, Brit Milah and Pidyon HaBen; laws of mitzvot; order of leap years and tekufot calendars. Texts of contracts and Azharot following the order of the 613 mitzvot.
Birth records from the 19th and 20th centuries at the foot of a few leaves. Inscription dated 1893: "The good flower was born… in the merit of the Torah which is good, David son of Yosef Al-Uqabi, on 15th Nissan…". Another birth record of Musa son of David, born on 10th Adar I 1935.
[133] leaves. Lacking a few leaves at beginning of volume. 29 cm. Overall fair-good condition. Dark stains. Tears and wear. Open tears to many leaves, affecting text, with paper repairs. Several detached leaves. Leather binding, worn and damaged.

Leaf (two written pages, 54 lines) handwritten by R. Pinchas HaLevi Horowitz Rabbi of Frankfurt am Main, author of the Haflaa – novellae on Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah pertaining to the laws of Kashrut, sections 101 and 105.
Most of the contents of this leaf were published in Chiddushei Haflaa (Munkacs 1895), after undergoing minor editing. The two final lines of the first page, as well as the first line and several words from the second line at the beginning of the second page, were not printed there (and were presumably not printed anywhere else).
This leaf is part of a manuscript which was in the possession of R. Efraim Zalman Horowitz of Komarno, great-grandson of the Haflaa. In 1895, R. Efraim Zalman entrusted R. Sender Chaim of Kozova with the manuscript, to transcribe it for publication. In their enthusiastic approbations to the book, prominent rabbis and rebbes such as the Darchei Teshuvah of Munkacs and the Maharsham of Berezhany attest to this. The Darchei Teshuva describes the preeminence of this manuscript in his approbation: " What shall I testify and to what shall I compare the great value of the manuscript, which although short, revives my soul".
R. Pinchas HaLevi Ish Horowitz, rabbi of Frankfurt am Main, author of the Haflaa (1731-1805), served in his early years as rabbi of Witkowo and Lachovice. On 26th Tevet 1772, he was appointed rabbi and dean of Frankfurt am Main, which at that time was the largest Torah center in Germany. He held this position for over thirty-three years, until his passing. He edified many disciples in his yeshiva, the most prominent of them being his close disciple the Chatam Sofer. He led the battles against Haskalah and the Reform movement. R. Pinchas and his Torah novellae were held in high regard by all the leaders of his generation, whether Chassidic or opponents of Chassidut.?At the end of 1771, shortly before he arrived in Frankfurt, R. Pinchas spent several weeks together with his brother R. Shmelke Rabbi of Nikolsburg, by the Maggid of Mezeritch, where they absorbed the secrets of Torah and worship of G-d from the Maggid and his leading disciples (the Mitteler Rebbe of Lubavitch relates to this in his famous foreword to Shulchan Aruch HaRav, first printed in 1814). The Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch defines R. Pinchas as a disciple of the Maggid (Likutei Torah, Bamidbar, Zhitomir 1848, p. 29b, in a gloss on the words of his grandfather the Baal HaTanya). In his book Panim Yafot, the Haflaa brings several principles from the teachings of the Maggid of Mezeritch (see: Erchei HaHaflaa, Jerusalem 2006, I, pp. 40-41), although he only mentions him explicitly in one place, in Parashat Beshalach (p. 57b), in the commentary to "Vayavo'u Marata" (some claim that the omission of the name of the Maggid from the book Panim Yafot is the fault of the copyists of the manuscript. In his foreword, the publisher R. Efraim Zalman Margolies states that Panim Yafot was not printed based on the author's own manuscript, but from a transcription produced by one of the grandsons of the author, "based on a transcription of the book produced by various scribes", meaning that the book was printed based on a third hand copy. This claim still does not explain the fact that the name of the Maggid of Mezeritch is not mentioned in any of the books published by the Haflaa in his lifetime, even in places where the ideas quoted were derived from the teachings of the Maggid). During his short stay by the Maggid, the Haflaa drew close to several disciples of the Maggid, including the Baal HaTanya, R. Zusha of Anipoli and R. Avraham of Kalisk (whom the Haflaa referred to, in 1792, with great reverence: "my beloved friend, the great luminary, R. Avraham HaKohen of Tiberias"). In a letter he wrote in 1792, he expresses his esteem for the Chassidim of Tiberias who devote themselves to the worship of G-d in the Holy Land (Yeshurun, XXI, p. 855).
The Haflaa was a prolific author, and he recorded many novellae on all parts of the Torah and on most Talmudic tractates. He gave the general title of "Haflaa" to all his books. The first book of this series, on Tractate Ketubot, was named Ketubah (Offenbach 1787), and the second, on Tractate Kiddushin, was named HaMikneh (Offenbach 1801). Both were published in his lifetime, while the third part in this series, Panim Yafot on the Torah in five volumes (Ostroh 1825-1826), was only published after his passing. His halachic responsa were published in Responsa Givat Pinchas.
Publication of the novellae of the Haflaa on other Talmudic tractates and on Shulchan Aruch, including the contents of the present leaf, began in 1895. In 1900, three additional parts on the Talmud were published in Vilna based on the manuscripts of the Haflaa, and in 1994, two further volumes were published. The Vilna printers write in their foreword that the three volumes on the Talmud they published are based on two manuscripts of the Haflaa which they received, "and both manuscripts of the Haflaa testify to each other, since they were both written by the same scribe". One of the two manuscripts was received from R. Efraim Zalman Horowitz, who also inherited the present manuscript.
[1] leaf (two written pages). 19 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, dampstains. Marginal tears, not affecting text.

Letter handwritten and signed by Rebbe Mordechai Twersky of Rachmastrivka. Jerusalem, [1910s].
Addressed to R. Avraham Berensohn. Letter acknowledging the reception of a donation of 11 dollars. The rebbe extends many blessings for the donor: "May he receive a blessing from G-d, a thousand times this amount, and experience great success in his work, and find favor in the eyes of G-d and man, and may he be blessed with physical and emotional health, and a complete recovery for his weak heart… may his eyes behold pleasure and great satisfaction from all his descendants, may they go in the straight path in the eyes of G-d and man, and those who need to get married, may they find a suitable match… and longevity, a good and pleasant life always… One who beseeches on his behalf to be saved with all kinds of salvations, blessings and goodness…".
At the end of the letter, the rebbe asks the donor "to help me and support me in the terrible situation we are in". The contents of the letter seem to indicate that it was written during the years of WWI (1914-1918), a time when the Jews of Jerusalem suffered from terrible hunger.
Rebbe Mordechai (R. Mottele) Twersky (1840-1920). Eldest son of the first Rachmastrivka Rebbe, R. Yochanan Twersky, and son-in-law of his uncle Rebbe David of Tolna. In his first marriage, he was the son-in-law of R. Chanina Lipa Shapira of Zhitomir-Slavita. Already in his father's lifetime, a group of Chassidim began frequenting his court, and after the passing of his father in 1895, he served as rebbe of Rachmastrivka together with his brother (initiating the Rachmastrivka tradition of two brothers serving as rebbes, leading the tish and receiving Chassidim – together). In 1906, he immigrated to Jerusalem, where he was one of the most prominent rebbes. On Chol HaMoed Pesach 1920, he was injured by Arab rioters on his way to the Western Wall, and passed away several weeks later.
[1] leaf. 17 cm. Good condition. Minor tears. Left margin cut, slightly affecting text. Folding marks.

Four leaves (eight pages), commentaries to Mishnayot Tractate Maaser Sheni – Maaseh Oreg and Pnei Zaken, handwritten by the author – Rebbe Yitzchak Eizik Yehuda Yechiel Safrin, rabbi of Zidichov and Komarno. [Komarno, 1847?].
Four (consecutive) leaves handwritten by the author, the rebbe of Komarno, with emendations and deletions within the text. The leaves contain the commentaries of the rebbe to the end of chapter 3 and beginning of chapter 4 of Tractate Maaser Sheni, written in parallel columns. The columns are titled "A.E." [=Atzei Eden] and "M. Oreg" [=Maaseh Oreg].
The Rebbe of Komarno composed three commentaries on the Mishnayot: Atzei Eden, which covers nearly the entire Mishnah (ending in the middle of Ohalot) and comprises a short summary of the commentaries on the Mishnah (divided into two parts: Etz HaChaim and the kabbalistic Etz HaDaat); two other commentaries on Order Zera'im and Order Taharot – Maaseh Oreg on the Jerusalem Talmud and the Tosefta pertaining to the Mishnah, and Pnei Zaken which contains the halachic conclusions of the Rambam. The commentaries were first printed in Lviv in 1861-1862, and include Kabbalistic explanations and allusions on the Mishnah and the Halacha.
Rebbe Yitzchak Eizik Yehuda Yechiel Safrin Rabbi of Zidichov (Zhydachiv) and Komarno (1806-1874), a G-dly kabbalist and leading transmitter of the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, a nephew and close disciple of the Sar Beit HaZohar, Rebbe Tzvi Hirsh of Zidichov. He was cherished by foremost Chassidic leaders – the Chozeh of Lublin (who served as his matchmaker), the Rebbe of Apta, R. Moshe Tzvi of Savran, his uncle R. Moshe of Sambor, R. Yisrael of Ruzhin, and others. He authored many books on Chassidut and Kabbalah, including the Heichal HaBerachah commentary to the Five Books of the Torah, based on the teachings of the Arizal and the Baal Shem Tov. The Heichal HaBerachah Chumashim are considered classic books in Chassidic thought and Kabbalah. They were treasured by rebbes of various dynasties (the Zidichov dynasty, the Divrei Chaim and his descendants, the Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch, and others), who extolled the exceptional holiness of the kabbalistic teachings contained in his commentaries.
[4] leaves (8 written pages). 24 cm. Good condition. Stains. Minor marginal tears, not affecting text.