Letter handwritten and signed by R. Eliyahu Chaim Meisel, Rabbi of Łódź. Łódź, Sivan 1894.
Written on official stationery, with a decorated emblem containing the words: "Eliyahu Chaim son of R. Moshe – Meisel – Rabbi of Łódź". Sent to his grandnephew R. Yisrael Yehonatan Yerushalimsky, who then served as Rabbi of Orlya. R. Eliyahu Chaim Meisel apologizes for his infrequent correspondence, since writing is difficult for him due to "my exhaustion at my old age". He adds that "Thank G-d, I, my exceptional son and my great son-in-law and all that is ours are doing well…". After the signature, he adds a short Torah responsum regarding the explanation of a passage by the Ran. This letter has been printed with a facsimile in Sorasky, Melech BeYofyo (I, p. 46).

R. Eliyahu Chaim Meisel (1821-1912), Rabbi of Łódź, was celebrated from his youth for his brilliance, and at the young age of 8 he joined the Volozhin yeshiva to study under R. Yitzchak of Volozhin. At the age of 19, he was appointed Rabbi of Horodok (Gródek), his native city, and in 1851, of Dereczyn. He later served as Rabbi of Pruzhany and of Łomża, and from 1873, as Rabbi of Łódź, a position he held for 40 years. He was renowned as one of the most prominent Torah leaders of his times in Lithuania and Poland and was famous for his exceptional acts of kindness in redeeming captives and saving needy families from starvation. His gravesite in Łódź was popular as a prayer-site for requesting salvation for the Jewish people and for individuals and was perpetually covered with kvittels.

The recipient of the letter, R. Yisrael Yehonatan Yerushalimsky (1860-1917), Rabbi of Orlya and Ihumen, son of R. Yaakov Moshe Direktor (1809-1879), Rabbi of Mush (Novaya Mysh; a student of the Volozhin yeshiva and a famous wonderworker). His mother Rebbetzin Sarah Perle was the daughter of R. Moshe Meisel (Zibertinsky), brother of R. Eliyahu Chaim Meisel, Rabbi of Łódź. In 1872, his father sent him off to celebrate his bar mitzvah in Jerusalem, to absorb its holiness and receive blessings from Jerusalem rabbis (whereupon he changed his surname to Yerushalimsky or Ish-Yerushalayim). He studied in the Volozhin yeshiva, and later married the daughter of R. Yaakov David Wilovsky (Ridvaz), Rabbi of Slutsk. In 1892 he was appointed Rabbi of Orlya (near Grodno), and in 1902 he was appointed Rabbi of Ihumen (Chervyen, Minsk region). After his untimely passing, his teacher R. Chaim Soloveitchik, Rabbi of Brisk, declared, "I do not know two other rabbis of his stature in this generation in all of Russia and Poland" (Sorasky, Melech BeYofyo, p. 49). He was the father-in-law of R. Yechezkel Abramsky, Head of the London Beit Din, author of Chazon Yechezkel.

[1] leaf, official stationery. 28 cm. Good condition. Stains. Creases and folding marks.