Shanah Tovah and Chag Sameach letters that were sent by the Admo”r of Erlau, Rabbi Yochanan Sofer, to Rabbi Moshe Adler, ‘the rabbi of Torda’ and regards to his great father, Yosef Adler, a member of Agudat Yisrael’s Council of Torah Sages.
Rabbi Yochanan Sofer, rabbi of Erlau [1923-2016] was the son of Rabbi Moshe Sofer, Av Beit Din of Erlau and author of
Shu”t Yad Sofer , son of the gaon – author of
Hitorerut Teshuvah , son of the author of
Ktav Sofer , and the head of Agudat Yisrael’s Council of Torah Sages. He diligently and devotedly studied Torah all his life, authored books of Torah novellae and of halachic rulings, and was known as one of the greatest rabbis in the Land of Israel. In addition, he was occupied with the compilation of books by his ancestors, the geonim, and of books by other geonim of Hungary. He started serving as rabbi and adjudicator in Budapest after the Holocaust. After ascending to Israel, he established the Ohel Shimon-Erlau yeshivah and the community of Erlau Chassidism – one of the most prominent Chassidic communities established in the Land of Israel after the Holocaust.
Various sizes. Fine condition. Placed in an envelope with the name of the sender and the recipient.
Written on the conversion certificate: “We hereby confirm that Mr. Jack Lafentra … was circumcised and immersed himself for the purpose of conversion before three witnesses, and accepted the yoke of Torah and mitzvahs upon himself. He is a Jew in every respect, and his name shall be Ya’akov son of Avraham Avinu.” The certificate bears the covert’s photograph, and is signed by Rabbi Waldenberg as Av Beit Din, and by Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef and Rabbi Kapach.
In our generation, when many have breached the wall of purity around the Jewish people, and “instant conversions” and Reform conversions impinge on sanctity and purity, the soul of the people and purity of lineage, it is very exciting to hold the conversion certificate before us, testifying to a conversion done as required by three of the generation’s leaders (from three sectors: Ashkenaz, Sephard, and Yemen), in the manner passed on to us from the time of Moshe Rabbeinu who converted his father-in-law, Yitro.
[1] official State of Israel paper, printed and signed. 16×20 cm. Signed by the rabbis.
Fine condition. Fold marks. Filing perforation. Tiny tears in the folds.
Official marriage certificates written by the local rabbis in various communities and designated for the different civil needs of the local governments.
The certificates are typewritten with handwriting on official paper blanks signed by the rabbis and with the communities’ stamps.
Various sizes. Overall fine condition.
Early postcard sent by the Admo”r of Erlau immediately after the Holocaust to Shlomo Sofer, his cousin, in which he informs the Admo”r of his desire to collect responsa sent to his father, but “during the course of the expulsion they were lost” and he requests that his cousin turn to the rabbis with whom his father corresponded so that they would resend the responsa for him to print. The request is to turn to the rabbis: Rabbi Akiva Sofer, Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky, the gaon of Tchebin, and the author of Dover Meisharim .
Rabbi Yochanan Sofer , was the rabbi of Erlau [1923-2016], son of Moshe Sofer, Av Beit Din of Erlau, author of Shu”t Yad Sofer , son of the gaon, author of Hitorerut Teshuvah , son of the author of Ktav Sofer , and one of the leaders of Agudat Yisrael’s Council of Torah Sages. He diligently and devotedly studied Torah all his life, authored books of Torah novellae and of halachic rulings, and was known as one of the greatest rabbis in the Land of Israel. In addition, he was occupied with the compilation of books by his ancestors, the geonim, and of books by other geonim of Hungary. He started serving as rabbi and adjudicator in Budapest after the Holocaust. After immigrating to Israel, he established the Ohel Shimon-Erlau yeshivah and the community of Erlau Chassidism – one of the most prominent Chassidic communities established in the Land of Israel after the Holocaust.
R’ Shlomo Sofer , son of Rabbi Avraham Sofer, was a rabbi and manuscript editor.
[1] postcard. 16×11 cm. Written and signed by Rabbi Yochanan Sofer of Erlau.
Fine condition.
Lengthy letter covering three leaves of Mercaz Tzeirei Agudat Yisrael official stationery, handwritten and signed by the gaon Rabbi Aharon Fischer, patriarch of the Fischer family of Jerusalem geonim, and stamped with the movement’s official stamp. Background to the letter: The 1929 riots put the Yishuv leadership in shock. Pinchas Rothenberg was subsequently appointed chairman of the National Assembly, because he had already attempted to find a path to Jewish-Arab coexistence a number of times. As a result, there were disagreements within the Agudat Yisrael leadership as to whether to cooperate with the National Assembly, with R’ Yisrael Chaim Eis’s stance being to contact the Arabs separately. R’ M. Blau compromised between both sides, and did not cooperate with the Jews nor with the Arabs, and even refrained from appearing before the commission that had been established by the authorities about the causes of the riots. However, Agudat Yisrael was not able to come to terms with this passive stance, in which the Jewish Agency alone represented the Yishuv. In addition, in November 1929, Rothenberg offered Agudat Yisrael participation in the meetings with the National Assembly. Agudat Yisrael suggested partial participation as a compromise. Following this “arrangement,” Rabbi M. Blau turned to Agudat Yisrael’s World Executive Committee with a request to hold parallel contact with the Zionist leadership in London to discuss all the policy questions relating to the Land of Israel. Opinions diverged here, too, and there was turbulent correspondence between members from November through January. Rabbi Yisrael Chaim Eis opposed, and R’ Ya’akov Rosenheim was in favor. Towards the end of this period, the National Assembly decided to establish an investigation to decide between the conflicting arguments of the Jews and the Arabs regarding the Western Wall. Here, too, they recommended that Agudat Yisrael appear together with them before the commission. There were also disagreements about this within the Agudah. In Iyar, the country woke up to the cancellation of immigration quotas by the British authorities, in the wake of capitulation to Arab pressure. Zionist institutions raged, and declared a strike on 24 Iyar. With this, too, they turned to Agudat Yisrael for their cooperation with the strike initiative. They initially did not agree, however after negotiation did indeed participate. At this point R’ Eis was boiling with anger, and in his letter to R’ Blau he is furious: “Why should Agudat Yisrael fight for immigration to Israel? In order to add more [secular residents]?” Many members of Agudat Yisrael disagreed with this stance. The constant internal tension caused the extremists and zealots to leave the Agudat Yisrael framework, and establish their own framework: “Tze’irei Agudat Yisrael” under the leadership of R’ Aharon Katzenelbogen and R’ Amram Blau. This group stood for total non-cooperation with Zionist institutions. R’ Aharon Fischer was a member of Tze’irei Agudat Yisrael.
In the letter before us, Rabbi Fischer reveals the differences of opinion between the zealots and R’ M. Blau, the divergences and disagreements inside the Jerusalem Agudat Yisrael about the elections of the General Assembly. Not only that, but he also reveals here for the first time Eis’s efforts to sway Blau’s opinion! And about the messages he sent to members of Tze’irei Agudat Yisrael. R’ Aharon severely criticizes R’ Blau’s neutral stance. Moreover, Rabbi Yonantan Binyamin Horowitz’s stance was similar to that of Tze’irei Agudat Yisrael. There is much criticism, both overt and implied, of the activists and communal leaders in the ranks of Agudat Yisrael. Fascinating.
Rabbi Aharon Fischer [1896-1942] was born in Hungary to Rabbi Shlomo Fischer, rabbi of the status quo ante of Karlsburg and disciple of the Ktav Sofer and of Rabbi Yitzchak Dov Bamberger. He ascended to Jerusalem in 1919 where he joined the zealot camp. He was a member of Tze’irei Agudat Yisrael. He conducted himself with asceticism and piety, and fought the war for Judaism against the National Assembly. Rumors were spread that he shot the leader of the Arab mob who came to riot against the Jews in 1929, but these rumors are not well founded and apparently not true. He passed away quite young, and left four sons who later illuminated Israel with their Torah: Rabbi Yisrael Ya’akov (rabbi of the Zichron Moshe neighborhood of Jerusalem, and Ra”avad of the Edah Chareidit), R’ Moshe (rabbi of the Knesset neighborhood of Jerusalem), R’ Meir Tzvi (adjudicator in Har Nof, Jerusalem) and R’ Shlomo (rosh yeshivah of Itri).
Rabbi Chaim Yisrael Eis [1876-1943] was one of the founders of the Agudat Yisrael movement and one of its prominent activists. He was a central activist involved in rescuing Jews during the Holocaust. He was in constant contact with Agudat Yisrael in Jerusalem. The Mizrachi movement, to which he himself belonged in his youth, was his main target. He mocked them for not teaching their children Torah; that they have a different religion: “the religion of work.” He also very much criticized secular education. In controversies between the zealots of Jerusalem and “Mercaz Agudat Yisrael” of Jerusalem, he generally sided with the zealots. For example, that Dahan’s policy of keeping the Land under Arab governance should continue; that no contact should be made at all with the Zionist movement, even in times of distress. After the 1929 riots, R’ Eis expressed his opinion that Chareidi Jewry should forgo the Balfour Declaration in exchange for an Arab-Jewish agreement that would grant Jews religious freedom. Rabbi Blau cried out and told him that he does not know the Arab nature; they hate the Jews, and cannot be relied upon. He also criticized R’ Eis for slandering Rabbi Chaim Ozer of Vilna for causing Agudat Yisrael to have a moderate stance towards Zionism.
[3] stationery leaves: 28 cm. Fine condition. Fold marks. Filing perforations.
Lengthy halachic letter covering two pages, handwritten and signed by the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, the gaon Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank, to his in-law, the gaon Rabbi Eliezer Yehudah Waldenberg. The letter deals with the halachahs of zeraim and Land-of-Israel-dependent mitzvahs.
The gaon Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank [1873-1960] was a dayan, Av Beit Din, and adjudicator, among the founders of the Chief Rabbinate, member of the Chief Rabbinical Council, and Chief Ashkenazic Rabbi of Jerusalem.
The gaon Rabbi Eliezer Yehudah Waldenberg [1915-2006], was the author of Shu”t Tzitz Eliezer and one of the most prominent adjudicators of the 20th century. He is primarily known for his responsa on medical halachic subjects. He was a member of the Beit Din HaRabbani HaGadol, winner of the Israel Prize for Torah Literature, and the Rabbi Kook Prize. He served as the unofficial rabbi of the Shaare Tzedek medical center in Jerusalem.
[2] pages, 27 cm. Pen on official stationery blank.
Very fine condition.
Rabbi Sternbuch requests in his letter that Rabbi Turchin take care of a certain talented young man who arrived in the Land without a place to study: “He arrived yesterday and wants to continue studying … he will grow and become a great Talmudic scholar with much influence.”
Rabbi Nissan Turchin [d. 6 Tishrei 1992] was the rabbi of Yehud and rosh yeshivah of Ohr Yitzchak. He rescued many souls for the sake of Torah and fear of Heav-n.
Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch [b. 1926], Ra”avad of the Edah Charedit, is one of the great adjudicators of our generation, author of Shu”t Teshuvot V’Hanhagot and many other books. He became well-known in the yeshivah world as a prodigy from his youth.
[1] stationery blank, 28×21 cm. Ink on paper, handwritten and signed by Rabbi Sternbuch.
Fine condition. Fold marks. Filing perforations.
“… we need to know that the Knesset Yisrael yeshivah has great influence, as most of the rabbis in Lithuania at this time are among its students.” Long protocol from the Agudat Yisrael assembly in Kovno, which gathered on the occasion of the Slobodka yeshivah’s return to Kovno, after it was exiled to Kremenchug during WWI. The protocol was sent to Agudat Yisrael’s central committee in Zurich. The protocol was written by Rabbi Avraham Grodzinsky, who was later the rosh yeshivah. Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein signed the protocol as chairman of the assembly, aside the secretary. With the stamp of the Central Federation of Agudat Yisrael in Lithuania.
Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein [1866-1834] was the rosh yeshivah of Knesset Yisrael in Slobodka and in Chevron, and member of the Council of Torah Sages. Over the course of WWI, he moved with his yeshivah to Minsk and to Kremenchug. They then returned to Slobodka in 1919, which is the focus of this protocol. Due to a draft decree for the students at the Slobodka yeshivah in 1924, the yeshivah relocated to Chevron in the Land of Israel. Rabbi Epstein stayed there about a year, then returned to Slobodka to manage the yeshivah’s affairs there, and again returned to Chevron. He authored the series of books
Levush Mordechai .
[2] pp. official stationery. 28×22 cm. Fine condition. Pasted tear without lack.
Letter by Rabbi Chaim Nachum Effendi, Chief Rabbi of Egypt (and the Ottoman Empire), to the Rishon L’Tziyon Rabbi Ben Tziyon Meir Chai Uziel.
In his interesting letter about the renewal of a gravestone on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, the rabbi of Egypt describes in detail all the stages of repairing the gravestone, beginning with where to buy the marble stone and ending with hiring ten sages “to study beside the gravestone.”
Rabbi Chaim Nachum Effendi [1873-1960], served as the Chief Rabbi (Chacham Bashi) of the Jews of the Ottoman Empire (1906-1920) and the Chief Rabbi of the Jews of Egypt (1925-1960).
Rabbi Ben Tziyon Meir Chai Uziel [1880-1953], the ‘Rishon L’Tziyon’ – rabbi of the Land of Israel, one of the greatest halachic adjudicators of the previous generation.
[1] leaf official stationery, 28×22 cm. Handwritten and signed by Rabbi Chaim Nachum Effendi in Sephardic script.
Fine condition. Aging stains. Filing perforations.
Printed Shanah Tovah cards with lengthy additions in beautiful block writing by Rabbi Aryeh Levin to Mordechai Raziel.
Rabbi Aryeh Levin [1885-1969] was known as ‘Father of the Prisoners’ because during the mandate era (and also afterwards) he would walk every Shabbat to visit members of the underground who were prisoners in the jails, and strengthen them. He would also visit the lepers’ hospitals in Jerusalem, where no one would set foot, not even the patients’ relatives, due to the contagious and incurable disease. But the tzaddik Rabbi Aryeh Levin would go in and sit with the patients and strengthen them, without concern for the risk of contagion. He studied at the Volozhin yeshivah, and was ordained to the rabbinate by Rabbi Chaim Berlin. His only will was that he not be eulogized. His son-in-law was the gaon Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv.
R’ Mordechai Raziel , an alumnus of the Lithuanian yeshivahs, was a speaker, an author, and a poet. He established a network of schools in Russia and was a teacher in Jerusalem with many students. He was the father of David Raziel (among the founders of Etze”l) and Esther Raziel (activist in Etze”l and Herut MK).
[2] greeting cards 6×10 cm. Placed in a matching envelope, stamped. Very fine condition.
* Shanah Tovah greeting card, with the addition of a handwritten personal blessing. [1] Shanah Tovah card. 9×6 cm. Placed in a matching stamped envelope.
* Long friendly letter, Rabbi Tikochinsky takes interest in Rabbi Kook’s health after a complex medical procedure he underwent, and mentions that he got involved in the issue of the Mir rosh yeshivah, Rabbi Eliezer Yehudah Finkel. Ink on paper. 14×17 cm.
Rabbi Moshe Akiva Tikochinsky [1910-1988] was the mashgiach of the Slobodka yeshivah in Bnei Brak, and before that, the spiritual dean of the Mekor Chaim yeshivah in Jerusalem. He was a student at the Knesset Yisrael yeshivah in Chevron, where he became attached to the mussar ways of Slabodka. He was injured with an ax-blow to the head during the 1929 riots. Afterwards, he transferred to the Slabodka yeshivah in Lithuania, where he studied under the rosh yeshivah, Rabbi Isaac Sher, who selected him as a bridegroom for his sister, Chayah Rivkah Sher, who grew up in his home. In 1947, he began serving as mashgiach and spiritual dean of the Slobodka yeshivah in Bnei Brak, which was established by his bother-in-law, Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Sher. His grandson, Rabbi Tzvi Plonchek, is the mashgiach at the Ohr Elchonon yeshivah in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Nachum HaKohen Kook [1932-2010] was the father of kabbalist Rabbi Dov Kook of Tiberias. He was rabbi of the Tel Ganim neighborhood in Ramat Gan, chairman of the rabbinical committee of Ramat Gan and one of the founders of the Religious Council Workers Federation of Israel, and its chairman, eventually its president. His brothers are the rabbis, the gaons, Shlomo – rabbi of Rechovot, Simchah – his brother’s successor in Rechovot, and Avraham Yitzchak – rosh yeshivah of Meor HaTalmud.
Overall fine condition.
Postcard written by the gaon Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky and sent from his residence on 23 Rashba”m Street in Bnei Brak.
A brief comment in response to a halachic inquiry is written on the postcard: “I don’t know what difference there is between bread crumbs and dry crumbs of dough; the primary difference is between those placed on the ground and those placed inside a vessel.” The gaon Rabbi Chaim’s signature appears on reverse side of the postcard in the place designated for the sender’s name.
The gaon Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky is known as “Sar HaTorah.” He is the greatest halachic adjudicator of our generation and leader of the Lithuanian (yeshivah) community.
[1] postal postcard, 9×14 cm. Handwritten on both sides in blue ink by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, shlit”a.
Very fine condition.
Halachic decision by Jerusalem rabbis on the laws between neighbors, regarding a land dispute in the Sha’arei Chessed neighborhood. Among the signatories: Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank and Rabbi Lipman David Bahar”i.
Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank [1873-1961] was a dayan, Av Beit Din, and posek, one of the founders of the Chief Rabbinate, a member of the Chief Rabbinic Council and the Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem.
[1] leaf official Bada”tz Ashkenazim stationery (graph paper). 22×16 cm. Scribal script, with the rabbis’ handwritten signatures and the Beit Din’s stamp.
Fine condition. Fold marks.
