Lengthy, important and fascinating letter of responsum [over 800 words]. Entirely handwritten and signed by the gadol hador Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv and sent to the gaon Rabbi Eliezer Yehudah Waldenberg on the occasion of the publication of his book of responsa, Shu”t Tzitz Eliezer . Jerusalem, 5 Tishrei, 1963. Apparently unprinted.
The letter was sent in the period between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, and is divided into two parts. The first part of the letter is the gaon Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv’s expression of appreciation to his friend Rabbi Waldenberg for sending his sefer , Tzitz Eliezer . This part is full of blessings [fulfilled, of course, ] for a good year, in the spirit of the season, and for the continuation of his series of sefarim and for success in Torah. “Hashem’s spirit occasionally stirs one to begin other sefarim and to complete them. May [your] wellspring burst forth to glorify the Torah, in tranquility of soul and serenity of mind. I shall sign with the blessing for years, for a good, blessed year, spiritually and materially, [to you and yours], to be glorified with salvation and redemption for all Jewish people everywhere, [your friend], Yosef Elyashiv.”
The second and major part of the letter deals with an interesting question: Can a person who recites kaddish for a deceased person and gets paid for it say this same kaddish for several deceased people at the same time without informing each of them? Rabbi Waldenberg quotes from Iggerot Moshe [ siman 254] in his sefer saying that this is prohibited due to potential theft, and he himself disagrees with the ruling in Iggerot Moshe . However, the gaon Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv leans towards agreeing with Reb Moshe Feinstein, and backs this up with several proofs from all over the Torah. He decides that this should not be done – that is, not to say that the memorial applies to both. It actually damages the segulah of kaddish if it is recited for more than one person. At the end of his lengthy responsum, after the additional signature: “as above” the gaon Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv tells a story about this that he heard from an important rabbi, known as the rabbi of Jerusalem, the gaon Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank.
In the spirit of the season between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, but also to express his dissatisfaction from this type of business, the gaon Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv sarcastically describes a rare Yerushalmi about such a person “He has many customers written in his ledger, recorded in his ‘Book of the Deceased’ and he says kaddish for all of them, and all of them are covered in one fell swoop.”
Despite the gaon Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv granting so many blessings at the beginning of his letter to Rabbi Waldenberg, that he publish many sefarim , which shows the importance he ascribes to this endeavor, the gaon Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv never published any himself, nor did he desire to. All his yearning was for Torah study for its own sake, not any particular achievement – even such a lofty one. However, in the case of this letter, written with Rabbi Elyashiv’s golden pen and with his great genius, it is difficult not to feel a huge loss in that we are not privileged to have a work of Rabbi Elyashiv’s own.
It is worth noting that most of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv’s manuscripts are characterized by adjoined script that is difficult to read. They are often in a style so brief that they resemble notes to oneself to jog one’s memory, demonstrating the value he ascribed to his precious time. This letter is entirely different. It is written in clear, legible script, and in a fluent and accessible style. It is readily apparent that Rabbi Elyashiv intended that this letter be published in Rabbi Waldenberg’s responsa literature. As stated, to the best of our (electronic) examination, we have not found this halachic responsum in the Tzitz Eliezer series of sefarim , nor in any other printed sefer , which is somewhat astonishing – how is it that Rabbi Waldenberg held back from including such a rare and important letter in his responsa work?
Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv .
[2] pp, 21×16 cm. Personal stationery.
Very fine condition. Fold marks.
