Important and lengthy family letter loaded with historic details about this prominent family and the era in which they lived, from Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook’s brother, the gaon Rabbi Dov Ber HaKohen Kook, to their brother, Rabbi Shmuel Kook, av beit din of Villisbatgrad and later head of the Harry Fischel Institute in Jerusalem. Other members of this lofty family also added to this letter. Villisbatgrad, 1922.
The letter was sent at the beginning of the previous century from Ukraine, and it contains several details about the lives of Jews of the era, when hunger and disease were rampant, and about other struggles Jews of the time faced. Inter alia , the writer notes the goods that are unobtainable to them [white flour, turnips, rice]. He thanks his brothers very much for sending him a package of foodstuffs from the Land of Israel, which was very helpful to him and his family at the time in Lithuania. Yet he writes with sensitivity, “Thank you for everything, but I would ask that if sending these packages is difficult for you, do not continue to send them. I am concerned that it is more than you can really do …”
He also asks that his family members write letters and send them to him because the letters invigorate him. In addition, he asks that they send him sets of etrogim, lulavim and haddassim – with the stipulation that they not send too many sets because the customs fees are very high. Several lines in Yiddish appear at the end of the letter, probably from the Rebbetzin. There are also several lines from his son, Rabbi Raphael Kook – later rabbi of Tiberias.
Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of Rabbi Dov Ber HaKohen Kook .
[1] leaf paper, written on both sides. 16×21.5 cm. Entirely handwritten, signed and stamped by him.
Fine condition. Fold marks. Aging stains.