Lengthy letter (over 20 lines) handwritten and signed by R. Yitzchak Ze'ev Soloveitchik, the Brisker Rav. Krynica-Zdrój (a spa town in southern Poland), 11th Elul 1938.

Addressed to his friend R. Isser Zalman Meltzer, Rabbi of Slutsk and dean of Etz Chaim yeshiva, in Jerusalem, asking him to send him a beautiful etrog from Eretz Israel: "…As I do every year, I hereby address you with my request to please provide me with… an ungrafted etrog for the festival of Sukkot, as well as inform me how to provide the price, because last year I didn't send the price since I didn't know how to send it, and therefore I ask you to inform me regarding this so I can pay for both at once".

The Brisker Rav goes on to list some of the important halachic considerations involving the color of the etrog and acts of acquisition, and mainly his concern for the Shemitah which was in force that year: "Now this year is the seventh year, and Rabbeinu Tam holds that an unrelinquished etrog is forbidden, and therefore I venture to ask you if it's possible to provide me with a relinquished etrog. And if it is necessary to add to the price for this let them inform me and I will send it, but for the present let them effect transfer of the etrog to me as a gift to avoid the issue of performing an act of acquisition before settling the price. And as I do every year, I ask that the etrog not be even slightly green, out of concern for the opinion of the Mishkenot Yaakov that greenness renders it unfit if it will later regain the appearance of an etrog".

He goes on to tell of his asthma condition, due to which he traveled to various spa towns, living there "already for about eight months, and my sickness has still not been cured". He asks R. Isser Zalman Meltzer to "please pray and ask for mercy for my sake during the days of mercy, and especially while at the holy sites, to send me a complete recovery soon, and that I and all my family be written and sealed for good, lengthy lives along with our fellow Jews, and I will be very grateful to you for this".

At the end of the letter he signs with Shanah Tovah blessings: "And I conclude with a blessing for you and all yours to be written and sealed for a lengthy, good and blessed life, and may you see the coming of a redeemer to Zion soon in our days. His friend, esteeming and honoring him, always seeking your welfare from heart and soul, Yitzchak Ze'ev son of… R. Chaim HaLevi Soloveitchik".

As he was supposed to return from Krynica to his home in Brisk for Sukkot 1938 (see: Meller, HaRav MiBrisk, I, p. 387), R. Yitzchak Ze'ev adds on the margins: "The etrog should be sent to me in Brisk like every year; the abovesigned".

R. Yitzchak Ze'ev Soloveitchik, the Brisker Rav (1886-1959), son of R. Chaim HaLevi of Brisk, and grandson of the Beit HaLevi. Already at a young age, still in his father's lifetime, he was considered one of the prominent Torah leaders of the generation. In 1919 (about the age of 32), he succeeded his forefathers as Rabbi of Brisk, and with his Torah authority, he governed all religious matters in his city and the entire region. He managed to escape the Holocaust together with some of his children who fled from Brisk to Vilna, from which they immigrated to Jerusalem in 1941. His authority was recognized by the entire Torah world in Eretz Israel and abroad. His books: Chidushei Maran Riz HaLevi on the Rambam and the Torah. His oral teachings were published as Chidushei HaGriz. His teachings serve to this day as a cornerstone of in-depth yeshiva learning and form the basis for the thought of large portions of Orthodox Jewry. He was famous for his searing fear of heaven and zeal for pure truth.

R. Isser Zalman Meltzer (1870-1953), a close friend of R. Yitzchak Ze'ev, the Brisker Rav, who loved and esteemed Reb Zunye (as he called R. Isser Zalman) for being a close disciple of his father R. Chaim while studying in the Volozhin yeshiva. The Brisker Rav would recount R. Isser Zalman's high standing in the eyes of his father R. Chaim of Brisk; once he told R. Isser Zalman: "Some were in the company of my father (R. Chaim of Brisk) and saw nothing; you were in his company and saw everything…" (BeDerech Etz HaChaim, II, p. 543). The Brisker Rav would recount that there were several kinds of iluyim (prodigies) in Volozhin; some were recognized as "quarter ilui", "half ilui" or "full ilui", but R. Isser Zalman was simply "the ilui" (Igrot Maran Riz HaLevi, p. 179). On another occasion the Brisker Rav told his disciple R. Elazar Menachem Shach that R. Chaim of Brisk considered R. Isser Zalman his greatest student and fit to be a "rabbi of rabbis" (ibid., p. 179). When the Brisker Rav escaped the Holocaust and arrived in Jerusalem, R. Isser Zalman was overjoyed and expressed his happiness to his disciples and family; since the Brisker Rav's arrival in Jerusalem they remained in close contact and would visit each other frequently to study Torah together.

[1] leaf. 27.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Folding marks and minor tears.

The present letter is printed along with a facsimile in BeDerech Etz HaChaim, II, pp. 545-546; HaRav MiBrisk, I, pp. 385-386; Yalkut Michtavim MiMaran HaGriz MiBrisk, Jerusalem, 2010, letter 11.