A number of years after the death of Rabbi Avraham ben HaGR”A on the 25th of Kislev, 1808, a rumor spread that he had left a letter regarding the future redemption, which was to be opened only 70 or 100 years after the death of the GR”A or Rabbi Avraham. The rumors were unclear, so its echo reverberated and grew stronger.
In [1898], 100 years after the death of the GR”A, Rabbi Pesach HaKohen, leading Vilna rabbi, sent a letter to Rabbi Shmuel Zukerman, a prominent third-generation disciple of the GR”A. The letter was an exact copy of the text of the ‘Iggeret HaKodesh’. Rabbi HaKohen asked that it be published in the “Torah MiTzion” periodical that was published in Jerusalem. The third issue of “Torah MiTzion” of [1898] featured the exact text of the letter, Rabbi Pesach’s explanation of how he received it, and a request that all kabalists and disciples of the GR”A try to decipher the letter’s mysteries.
>> These leaves were used by the disciples of the disciples of the GR”A who lived in Jerusalem. They held Rabbi Pesach’s original letter and the original copy of the ‘Iggeret HaKodesh’ that arrived from Vilna.
After the letters were printed in “Torah MiTzion”, it became clear that they contained a few errors.
This is a printed copy of the letter with handwritten corrections made by the disciples of the disciples of the GR”A in Jerusalem. It also bears a handwritten note that the corrections were made מגוף הכתב – meaning, that they held the original letter of Rabbi Pesach in their hand while they made the corrections.
This leaf was kept by the descendants of Rabbi Zundel Salant ztz”l, a disciple of the disciples of the GR”A. It seems that he also had an exact copy of the mysterious letter, and the corrections were taken from it.
The ‘Iggeret’ is signed אש”א, which is explained with many interesting theories.
The copy of “Sifra D’Ditzniuta” featured in the July, 2002 Judaica Jerusalem auction, lot 39, bore some correspondence amongst the disciples of the GR”A that ended, אברהם ב’ אליהו, גימטריה אש”א [302] (Avraham b’ Eliyahu equals 302 in gematria).
The writer was telling his friends the identity of the name אשא which is signed on this letter.
[1]leaf. 21×15 cm. Aging stains. Very fine condition.