Handwritten and signed letter by “Ga’on Rabbi Mordechai of Ruzhany”. Pinsk, Tishrei 1852.
In the letter sent to Rabbi Shmuel Salant in Jerusalem, regarding the estate of the deceased Rabbi Feivel of Karlin, he relates the hardships of the era: “…from the terrible grief and distress and the burden of suffering… with which we have been burdened, may G-d have mercy upon us”.
The genius Kabbalist Rabbi Mordechai Zakheim, Av Beit Din of Pinsk (passed away on eve of Hoshana Rabbah 1858), among the Torah giants of his generation who was known as “the genius of the brilliant”. It has been related that when the genius Rabbi Akiva Eger arrived in Minsk, he traveled there to meet him disguised as an assistant to the coachman of the coach in which Rabbi Akiva Eger traveled. Following a Torah discussion, in which Rabbi Akiva Eger was highly impressed by him he said: “Blissful is the region of Lithuania, in which even the coachmen are knowledgeable in Torah as the seeds of the pomegranate…”. Served as Av Beit Din in Ruzhany and from 1844 served as Av Beit Din in Pinsk. Had a special affinity with the Rebbe author of the Beit Aharon of Karlin, who he described as possessing “a righteous heart which burns to perform good deeds, and we must learn from him a love for good deeds”. He also officiated in marriage ceremonies of several weddings in the family of the Rebbe.
Rabbi Mordechai was the rabbi and mentor of famous Kabbalist Rabbi Mordechai Weitzel Av Beit Din of Ashmyany and Slonim. He was warned by Rabbi Mordechai Zakheim to conceal his knowledge in Kabbalah in order to not become famous as a miracle worker and disturbed from his Torah study.
18-20 cm. leaf. 18 handwritten lines. Fair condition, cut at margins, slight damage to text.