Five leaves (9 pages) handwritten by R. Elazar Landau descendant of the Gaon of Vilna – leaves from his journal, with transcripts of letters he sent and received, containing much valuable historical information about his life and the history of the publishing of the commentary of the Gaon of Vilna on Order Zera'im of the Jerusalem Talmud, and more.

This journal discloses unknown facts about the life of the writer, R. Elazar Landau, a prominent descendant of the Gaon of Vilna, who immigrated to Eretz Israel in his later years. The letters provide us with a portrayal of R. Elazar as an accomplished individual, a maggid who strived to strengthen Torah study in the towns of Russia, a communal worker and enthusiastic supporter of the Volozhin yeshiva. Likewise, the letters disclose new facts related to the history of the publishing of the commentary of the Gaon of Vilna on Order Zera'im of the Jerusalem Talmud (see Hebrew description). The letters copied into this jouranl are dated 1866-1869. Most of the letters written by R. Elazar are from his stay in Uman (after he left his position as rabbi of Slonim) and two of them were written after he immigrated to Eretz Israel.
New information about the life of R. Elazar Landau
This journal discloses new details about the life of R. Elazar Landau. The letters reveal that after the passing of his first wife (her passing on the seventh day of Pesach 1866 is documented in these letters), R. Elazar remarried, to a woman from Shereshov. His wife apparently refused to immigrate to Eretz Israel, and he therefore immigrated alone. The journal contains a letter written by R. Elazar Landau in 1869, addressed to R. Ben Tzion Sternfeld, rabbi of Shereshov, asking him to convince his wife to accept a get. It is accompanied by another letter, from the rabbis of Jerusalem, asking R. Ben Tzion Sternfeld to take care of the matter.
The letters also give us an idea about R. Elazar's activities to strengthen Torah in Uman and the surroundings. From a letter exchange between R. Avraham son of R. Meir of Minsk, who succeeded R. Elazar as maggid and yeshiva dean in Uman, it appears that R. Elazar founded a yeshiva there, and was tremendously dedicated to that cause.
New information about his activities on behalf of the Volozhin yeshiva
The letters transcribed in this journal also provide insight on R. Elazar Landau's activities on behalf of the Volozhin yeshiva, in Uman and the surrounding in Ukraine, together with the emissary of the Volozhin yeshiva – R. David Haufenberg, who was staying at the time in Kiev (and later became his son-in-law).
In one letter to R. David Haufenberg, R. Elazar asks him to send letters to seven towns about supporting the Volozhin yeshiva, and to instruct them to copy his letters into their Pinkas so that they should remain as constant reminder. In another letter, he informs R. David that in the town of Balta, they have distributed many Tzedaka boxes for Volozhin. In his letter to the Netziv of Volozhin, he writes that despite his sorrow over the passing of his wife, he will continue devoting himself to the yeshiva. In a different letter to R. David Haufenberg, he writes that his letter to Berditchev were effective in engendering support for the Volozhin yeshiva.
For a detailed list of the letters transcribed in this journal, see Hebrew description.
R. Elazar Landau (1812-1874), son of R. Yaakov Moshe of Slonim (1780-1849), son of R. Avraham, son of the Gaon of Vilna (Landau was his mother's maiden name). For most of his life, he served as rabbi of Slonim in place of his father, and continued his father's activities of distributing and publishing the works of the Gaon of Vilna from manuscripts. He copied and arranged works from the teachings of the Gaon of Vilna, and expended much effort to publish the commentary of the Gaon of Vilna on Order Zera'im of the Jerusalem Talmud (see Hebrew description). In ca. 1860, he left Slonim and travelled to Uman, Ukraine. In autumn 1868, he immigrated to Eretz Israel, where he was received with great honor and became one of the respected members of the community of the disciples of the Gaon of Vilna in Jerusalem. A leaf handwritten by R. Elazar Landau, with a section of a letter in which he describes his immigration to Eretz Israel, was auctioned at Kedem in 2009 (Auction 4). That leaf was, presumably, part of the present journal.
R. Elazar remarried in Jerusalem (from this journal, it appears that this was his third marriage), to Batya Breina daughter of R. Ze'ev Wolfensohn (a prominent member of the community of the disciples of the Gaon of Vilna in Jerusalem). R. Elazar passed away suddenly in 1874, leaving behind his wife and son R. Eliyahu Landau, who was only a half a year old at that time.

[5] leaves (9 written pages). Approx. 34 cm. Good condition. Stains and wear. Worming, slightly affecting several characters.