“He may instruct and adjudicate and serve in the rabbinate”
Large and very beautiful letter of rabbinic ordination, entirely handwritten and signed by the leader of American Jewry and one of the greatest poskim of the generations, the gaon Rabbi Moshe Feinstein. This hetter hora’ah was written for his talmid muvhak , Rabbi Menachem Mendel Reichman. New York, 1957.
This is a very rare document the likes of which has almost never been seen at auction. (In the BidSpirit portal, we saw one other ktav semichah from him, compared to about five hundred Torah letters). Despite the Iggerot Moshe being the leading rabbi in America, with the assumed natural role of signing many rabbinic ordinations for rabbis in the United States, especially his own disciples, the Iggerot Moshe was known particularly for his reverence of proper instruction, and would carefully avoid giving rabbinic ordination as much as possible. Obviously, whoever already obtained semichah from the Iggerot Moshe carefully preserves this important document and is in no rush for it to leave his possession.
In this ktav semichah , the Iggerot Moshe goes even further, using titles and praises for his beloved disciple “who studied with me for many years in our yeshivah, Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem, as well as in our kollel, Beit Midrash L’Torah V’Hora’ah.” Not only this, the Iggerot Moshe also blesses – and even promises – that nothing unsuitable will occur through his disciple’s halachic adjudication!
Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein .
[1] stationery blank, 28 cm.
Very fine condition. Covered in laminate for protection.