A long moving letter about the situation of the students of the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva evacuated to Vilna. Signed by the head of the Yeshiva, the Krakow Torah scholar, Rabbi "Zvi Eisenstadt of Krakow - in the name of the management of the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva". Vilna, November 1939.
Sent to Rabbi Moshe Blau, head of Agudat Yisrael in Jerusalem. The letter is written in flowery language lamenting the destruction of the Yeshiva in Lublin: "Standing today before the terrible situation which has befallen us in recent days, together with all Polish Jewry. A voice calls out from the Lublin Yeshiva --- what has befallen us! Our small Beit HaMikdash, the magnificent edifice built in splendor, fell into foreign hands…". Further in the letter, the writer describes the manner in which corrupt men came and profaned the yeshiva building and the dear Torah students of the Maharam Shapira fell into captivity.
The She'erit HaPleta of the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva fled to Vilna together with thousands of refugees from all over Poland, some of which managed to escape via the miraculous route, traveling the Trans-Siberian Railway until Japan. From there, they were able to reach free land after most of them suffered five years of exile in Shanghai.
Rabbi Menachem Zvi Eisenstadt (1901-1966), author of Minchat Zvi, disciple of Rabbi Chaim of Brisk. In 1926, wed the daughter of Rabbi Nechemya Zvi Kornitzer, Rabbi of Krakow and in 1935, founded a yeshiva gedola in Krakow. At the outbreak of the Holocaust, he escaped to Vilna and headed the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva in its exile. Later, he moved to Eretz Israel and lived in Tel Aviv and served in its rabbinate. In 1948, he moved to Brooklyn, NY and established his beit midrash Zichron Yitzchak. In 1959, he printed the Ramban commentary on the Torah with his comments and annotations.
Leaf, 22 cm. 2 written pages. Good-fair condition. (Pasted) tear along the length of the leaf, filing holes.
This letter was printed in the book Giborei HeChayil (Bnei Brak, 2010), pp. 115-117.