Auction 67 - Judaica - Books, Manuscripts, Rabbinical Letters, Ceremonial Art
Letter from Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman - Recommendation for a Jew who Fell into Poverty Due to Antisemitism in Poland
Opening: $600
Sold for: $2,750
Including buyer's premium
Letter (17 lines) handwritten and signed by R. Elchanan Bunem Wasserman, dean of Baranovich, during his travels in the United States. [New York, 1930s].
Appeal on behalf of a Jew from Baranovich, "a very prominent person… who has always worked to support himself, and throughout his life has set aside time to study Torah… and currently, his situation is truly terrible, since he has gone out of business due to the new decrees being enacted there daily…". This person had relatives in Detroit, and R. Elchanan requests "that he attempt to persuade them, not to ignore their relative's plight, and urge them to come to his assistance…". R. Elchanan concludes the letter with blessings for the recipient: "…bless him and his wife, the respected Rebbetzin, with longevity, a life of happiness, blessing and only good… Elchanan Bunem Wasserman".
R. Elchanan Wasserman (1875-1941) was a disciple of R. Shimon Shkop in the Telshe yeshiva and prominent disciple of the Chafetz Chaim. He served as lecturer and dean in the Brisk yeshiva and in other places. During WWI, at the behest of the Chafetz Chaim, he established a yeshiva in Smilavichy (Minsk province, today Belarus), and after the war, R. Elchanan founded Yeshivat Ohel Torah in Baranovich.
A renowned Torah scholar and a foremost yeshiva dean in Lithuania, he represented the Chafetz Chaim and R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski in the Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah of Agudat Yisrael. He composed many essays on Jewish ideology which were later published in his book Ikveta DeMeshicha, in which he expressed the Torah stance of his teacher the Chafetz Chaim on Zionist nationalism and the spiritual state of the Jewish people. During the Holocaust, he was deported to the Kovno (Kaunas) ghetto, and was later murdered in the Seventh Fort, while studying the laws of Kiddush HaShem. His teachings and lectures were published in the following books: Kovetz Shiurim, Kovetz He'arot, Kovetz Inyanim, Kovetz Igrot HaGaon R. Elchanan Wasserman and others. His approach in learning and his books serve until this day as the basis of intensive yeshiva study in the Torah world.
[1] leaf, official stationery from his stay in the United States. 24.5 cm. Fair condition. Wear and damage to folds. Filing holes. Leaf strengthened with tape on verso.
Appeal on behalf of a Jew from Baranovich, "a very prominent person… who has always worked to support himself, and throughout his life has set aside time to study Torah… and currently, his situation is truly terrible, since he has gone out of business due to the new decrees being enacted there daily…". This person had relatives in Detroit, and R. Elchanan requests "that he attempt to persuade them, not to ignore their relative's plight, and urge them to come to his assistance…". R. Elchanan concludes the letter with blessings for the recipient: "…bless him and his wife, the respected Rebbetzin, with longevity, a life of happiness, blessing and only good… Elchanan Bunem Wasserman".
R. Elchanan Wasserman (1875-1941) was a disciple of R. Shimon Shkop in the Telshe yeshiva and prominent disciple of the Chafetz Chaim. He served as lecturer and dean in the Brisk yeshiva and in other places. During WWI, at the behest of the Chafetz Chaim, he established a yeshiva in Smilavichy (Minsk province, today Belarus), and after the war, R. Elchanan founded Yeshivat Ohel Torah in Baranovich.
A renowned Torah scholar and a foremost yeshiva dean in Lithuania, he represented the Chafetz Chaim and R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski in the Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah of Agudat Yisrael. He composed many essays on Jewish ideology which were later published in his book Ikveta DeMeshicha, in which he expressed the Torah stance of his teacher the Chafetz Chaim on Zionist nationalism and the spiritual state of the Jewish people. During the Holocaust, he was deported to the Kovno (Kaunas) ghetto, and was later murdered in the Seventh Fort, while studying the laws of Kiddush HaShem. His teachings and lectures were published in the following books: Kovetz Shiurim, Kovetz He'arot, Kovetz Inyanim, Kovetz Igrot HaGaon R. Elchanan Wasserman and others. His approach in learning and his books serve until this day as the basis of intensive yeshiva study in the Torah world.
[1] leaf, official stationery from his stay in the United States. 24.5 cm. Fair condition. Wear and damage to folds. Filing holes. Leaf strengthened with tape on verso.
Holocaust, Antisemitism and She'erit Hapletah
Holocaust, Antisemitism and She'erit Hapletah