Auction 66 - Rare and Important Items
Letters from Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman and his Son Rabbi Naftali Beinush Wasserman – Baranovich, 1936
Opening: $1,500
Estimate: $3,000 - $5,000
Sold for: $2,750
Including buyer's premium
Two letters from R. Elchanan Wasserman and his son R. Naftali Wasserman in Baranovich (Baranavichy), addressed to R. David Potash in Tel Aviv. Cheshvan 1936.
In the first letter dated "Tuesday evening, Parashat Lech Lecha, 5th Cheshvan 1936", R. Naftali replies on behalf of his father to a letter from R. David dated 25th Tishrei: "…and behold, my father has not yet returned from his journey, he will return please G-d in two weeks". The letter is signed: "Naftali son of R. E.".
The second letter is handwritten and signed by R. Elchanan, and was written in Baranovich on "Thursday evening, Erev Shabbat Chayei Sara" (presumably also in Cheshvan 1936, approximately two weeks after the first letter). R. Elchanan writes: "Yesterday I returned from my trip abroad – in Lithuania – after remaining there for close to three months, and I was able to collect a sum of money for the yeshiva, but of what value is it compared to our heavy debts". Further in the letter, R. Elchanan relates to the distribution of his book Kovetz He'arot on Yevamot (Piotrkow, 1936): "Regarding the books, I wrote to R. Eliyahu Weiner in Jerusalem… and I requested that he make every effort to sell them to Torah scholars, at least to those capable of understanding the Aggadah section of the book".
R. Elchanan concludes the letter by blessing R. David: "His friend, who reveres and honors him for his elevated stature, and blesses him and all those who accompany him, with a life of happiness, blessing and ultimate 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 (Brest) 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 R. David Potash, then one of the wealthiest people in Russia, was a leading supporter of the yeshiva. 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.
Following the passing of his teacher, the Chafetz Chaim, R. Elchanan Wasserman would spend Elul and the High Holidays every year in the Beit HaTalmud of Kelm (Kelmė), Lithuania, and this is was presumably the three-month stay in Lithuania R. Elchanan referred to in the letter (in the interwar period, crossing the border from Baranovich, Poland, to Kelm, Lithuania, was complex, since Lithuania maintained hostile relations with Poland, which had conquered large parts of it).
His son, R. Naftali Beinush Wasserman (1914-perished in the Holocaust Cheshvan 1941), was amongst the most diligent students in Lithuanian yeshivot. He studied under his father, and under R. Shimon Shkop. He later attended the Mir yeshiva, where he was one of the leading students, with long lines of young Torah scholars queuing up to discuss their studies with him. When his father would absent himself from the yeshiva for long periods of time, he would call upon his son, the student R. Naftali Beinush, to substitute him in delivering lectures to the highest class of yeshiva students, and in managing the yeshiva. He got married in the summer of 1940, during the Holocaust, while the yeshiva was exiled in Lithuania. He was confined together with his father in the Kovno ghetto, where the latter taught him to recite the blessing of Kiddush HaShem according to the text recorded in book of the Shelah, as he had been taught by the Chafetz Chaim (Or Elchanan, II, p. 280). He perished in the Holocaust together with his young wife on 9th Cheshvan 1941. Remnants of his novellae were published in the book of his illustrious father, and in the books of his close friend, R. Shmuel Rosovsky.
Two postcards, with the official heading of the "Metivta Rabta 'Ohel Torah' Baranovich (Poland)". Approx. 10X14.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Creases. Postage stamps removed.
In the first letter dated "Tuesday evening, Parashat Lech Lecha, 5th Cheshvan 1936", R. Naftali replies on behalf of his father to a letter from R. David dated 25th Tishrei: "…and behold, my father has not yet returned from his journey, he will return please G-d in two weeks". The letter is signed: "Naftali son of R. E.".
The second letter is handwritten and signed by R. Elchanan, and was written in Baranovich on "Thursday evening, Erev Shabbat Chayei Sara" (presumably also in Cheshvan 1936, approximately two weeks after the first letter). R. Elchanan writes: "Yesterday I returned from my trip abroad – in Lithuania – after remaining there for close to three months, and I was able to collect a sum of money for the yeshiva, but of what value is it compared to our heavy debts". Further in the letter, R. Elchanan relates to the distribution of his book Kovetz He'arot on Yevamot (Piotrkow, 1936): "Regarding the books, I wrote to R. Eliyahu Weiner in Jerusalem… and I requested that he make every effort to sell them to Torah scholars, at least to those capable of understanding the Aggadah section of the book".
R. Elchanan concludes the letter by blessing R. David: "His friend, who reveres and honors him for his elevated stature, and blesses him and all those who accompany him, with a life of happiness, blessing and ultimate 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 (Brest) 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 R. David Potash, then one of the wealthiest people in Russia, was a leading supporter of the yeshiva. 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.
Following the passing of his teacher, the Chafetz Chaim, R. Elchanan Wasserman would spend Elul and the High Holidays every year in the Beit HaTalmud of Kelm (Kelmė), Lithuania, and this is was presumably the three-month stay in Lithuania R. Elchanan referred to in the letter (in the interwar period, crossing the border from Baranovich, Poland, to Kelm, Lithuania, was complex, since Lithuania maintained hostile relations with Poland, which had conquered large parts of it).
His son, R. Naftali Beinush Wasserman (1914-perished in the Holocaust Cheshvan 1941), was amongst the most diligent students in Lithuanian yeshivot. He studied under his father, and under R. Shimon Shkop. He later attended the Mir yeshiva, where he was one of the leading students, with long lines of young Torah scholars queuing up to discuss their studies with him. When his father would absent himself from the yeshiva for long periods of time, he would call upon his son, the student R. Naftali Beinush, to substitute him in delivering lectures to the highest class of yeshiva students, and in managing the yeshiva. He got married in the summer of 1940, during the Holocaust, while the yeshiva was exiled in Lithuania. He was confined together with his father in the Kovno ghetto, where the latter taught him to recite the blessing of Kiddush HaShem according to the text recorded in book of the Shelah, as he had been taught by the Chafetz Chaim (Or Elchanan, II, p. 280). He perished in the Holocaust together with his young wife on 9th Cheshvan 1941. Remnants of his novellae were published in the book of his illustrious father, and in the books of his close friend, R. Shmuel Rosovsky.
Two postcards, with the official heading of the "Metivta Rabta 'Ohel Torah' Baranovich (Poland)". Approx. 10X14.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Creases. Postage stamps removed.
Letters – Lithuanian Rabbis
Letters – Lithuanian Rabbis