Letter from Rabbi Avraham Dov Kahana Shapiro to Rabbi Yehuda Leib Fishman [Maimon], Kovno, 1938.
Specifications: [1] leaf, official paper. 23×29 cm.
Unique Features: Rabbi Avraham Dovber confirms receiving the “Sinai” booklet which Rabbi Maimon published “In memory of Rabbi Hai Gaon, ” and adds “And I was very impressed and joyful, you have outdone yourselves and I consider it a pleasant obligation to express great thanks to my friend. Go with this strength and increase.” He expresses surprise that he was not sent the book Azkarah . At the end of the letter he adds the request that he be sent two books which he needs for research he is carrying out.
Background: Rabbi Avraham Dov Kahana Shapiro [1870-1943]. Rabbi of Kovno, and author of the responsa Devar Avraham , was considered one of the greatest rabbis of his time. He studied in the Volozhin yeshiva and became known as the “Iluy from Kobrin.” Son-in-law of Rabbi Yerucham Yehuda Leib Pearlman, known as “HaGadol MiMinsk.” In 1896, he was appointed as Rabbi of Smolovitch, where he wrote his two-part work Dvar Avraham which was quickly accepted in the Polish and Lithuanian yeshivas, and established its author of one of the great rabbis of Europe.
In 1913, at the age of 43, he was chosen as rabbi of Kovno, capital of Lithuania. For over thirty years he was active in communal work for Lithuanian Jewry, including founding the Agudat Rabbanim in Lithuania and serving as its honorary president. He died in the Kovno Ghetto in 1943 after a long and difficult illness.
Condition: Very fine, fold marks, filing holes.