Letter loaded with blessings for the new year, signed by the Admo”r Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn of Lubavitch, to Rabbi Yosef Shmatkin. Otwock, 23 Elul 1937.
Six whole lines loaded with blessings for him and his family. The Rebbe blesses in this letter: “For the upcoming new year for us and the entire Jewish people, goodness and blessing, materially and spiritually.” The Rebbe repeats his blessing with another, greater than the first: “I hereby bless [you] and [your] family, may they be well, within our brethren, the entire Jewish people … to be inscribed and sealed for a good and sweet year, materially and spiritually. From he who seeks [your] well-being and blesses [you], Yosef Yitzchak.”
Relatively rare letter sent from the famous vacation village of Otwock, Poland, in which leading Admo”rs and rashei yeshivahs would vacation in Europe before the Holocaust. The Rebbe was staying in Otwock at the time due to his health condition.
The Admo”r Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn of Lubavitch – the Rayya”tz [1880-1950] was the sixth Admo”r in the Chaba”d dynasty, founder of the Tomchei Torah yeshivahs together with his father the Admo”r the Rasha”b. In 1920, he was appointed his father’s successor as Admo”r of Chaba”d. As a result of his activities disseminating Judaism, he was imprisoned several times by the Communist regime, but he was not deterred and continued with devotion. He immigrated to Brooklyn in 1940 and established the Chaba”d world center there.
It is interesting to note that when the Rebbe the Rayya”tz visited the Western Wall, Rabbi Yosef Shmutkin – recipient of this letter – served as the cantor for the minchah prayers, and later the Rebbe the Rayya”tz wrote in his journal about this prayer that was “a great awakening, like that on the eve of Yom Kippur.”
[1] leaf paper, 24 cm. Official stationery, typewritten; signed by the Rayya”tz.
Very fine condition. Fold marks.