Letter from Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchok Rabinowitz of Ponevezh – Rabbi Itzele of Ponevezh to Rabbi Yitzchak Damnitz. [c. 1910].
Specifications : [1] leaf, 14×21 cm. Text on both sides. All in his handwriting and with his signature.
Content: The letter was sent to Rabbi Yitzchak Damnitz upon his appointment as rabbi in Aberdare, Wales and discusses the improper conduct of a cantor.
Background: Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov Rabinowitz, known as Rabbi Itzele of Ponevezh, was born in Lithuania in 1854. He studied with Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, the “Beis HaLevi, ” and was a learning partner with his son, Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik. He was the rosh yeshiva of Knesset Yisrael in Slobodka, but left after a disagreement regarding the study of mussar. In 1895, he was appointed rabbi of Ponevezh, where he taught a “kibbutz” of learned young men. During the First World War, he left the city, and when he returned to Ponevezh a typhus epidemic broke out. He dedicated himself to helping the ill, caught the disease, and passed away on the 20th of Adar, 1919. He created a special technique for Torah novellae and his novellae were studied in all Lithuanian yeshivas. A few of his novellae were printed in the Zecher Yitzchak and some of his lectures were printed under the name Chiddushei HaGRYY”R.
Rabbi Yitzchak Damnitz studied as a youth in the Slobodka yeshiva. He served as rabbi in a number of communities in Wales, Ireland and England. He passed away in London c. 1945.
Condition: Fine. Fold marks and aging stains.