Important and awesome historic-Chassidic Holocaust letter like no other. The great lover of the Jewish people, the sacred Admo”r Rabbi Shimon Shalom of Amshinov, who had a certificate in his possession to extricate himself from the valley of tears, gives it to another Jew in the midst of the Holocaust, so that this person can be saved in his place!! The letter was sent to the activist R’ Moshe Porush. Jerusalem, Tevet/December 1939.
This letter was sent two months after the outbreak of the War [in September 1939]. Warsaw was already bombed out and Jewish blood was worth less than a garlic peel. They were being killed like insects in the streets. Whoever had a certificate in his possession was considered the happiest of men – it was quite literally a ticket to life.
In this unbelievable letter, Rabbi Moshe Porush informs the Jewish Agency that the gaon Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky informed him by telegram that the sacred Admo”r Rabbi Shimon Shalom of Amshinov, refuses to use his exit visa, giving it instead to R’ Yitzchak Levine (a member of the Lodz municipality).
The reasoning that lay behind the Rebbe’s noble act is unknown – did he perhaps desire not to be saved by himself while his family members and followers stayed behind? What eventually happened was that Heaven had mercy on him and he fled to Shanghai along with the bnei yeshivah , members of his own family and many of the Chassidic students at the yeshivahs who fled with him. The activist Rabbi Yitzchak Levine was also saved in the end.
Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of the Admo”r Rabbi Shimon Shalom Kalish of Amshinov .
[1] leaf paper. 21×28 cm. Official Agudat Yisrael stationery.
Very fine condition. Filing perforations. Color differences.