Lengthy letter from the rashei yeshivah of the renowned Mir yeshivah – the second-largest yeshivah in the world after the one in Volozhin – which set the format for yeshivahs familiar to us today. The gaon Rabbi Chaim Leib Tiktinsky and his son, the gaon Rabbi Shmuel Tiktinsky, who passed away at a young age, both signed this letter. The letter was sent to Rabbi Ya’akov Hirschbein, one of the leading Torah scholars in London. Mir, Elul 1880.
The letter deals with a society founded in London to support the Mir yeshivah. Due to upheavals of the time, its support declined. The yeshivah sent Rabbi Yehudah Lubatzki as an emissary in order to strengthen this society. The rashei yeshivah request in this letter that the recipient help the emissary during his stay in London.
The legendary rosh yeshivah, Rabbi Chaim Yehudah Leib Tiktinsky, who served in this role for close to fifty[!] years – signs this letter, “[Your] friend from afar, Chaim Yehuda Leib son of Rabbi Shmuel ztzllh”h, lecturer here …”
This is followed by a signature from his son Rabbi Shmuel, also one of the rashei yeshivah “signed by one deeply occupied in service of the students, Shmuel Tiktinsky, son of the gaon Rabbi Chaim Yehudah, lecturer here …” Rabbi Shmuel did not live long; he passed away in his youth in 1883, just three years after this letter was signed.
Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of the gaon Rabbi C h aim Leib Tiktinsky .
[1] double leaf paper, written on one side. 13.5×22 cm.
Fine-very fine condition. Fold marks. Filing perforations with slight damage in two words. Stains.