Very beautiful receipt for the donation of five hundred dollars [a huge sum in those days], for the establishment of the largest yeshivah in the world – Chachmei Lublin. The receipt is entirely handwritten and signed by the sacred gaon Rabbi Meir Shapira of Lublin, progenitor of Daf Yomi. Philadelphia, on the eve of Rosh Chodesh Adar I, 1927.
Mahara”m Shapira first thought of the idea of building “the largest yeshivah in the world” in 1924. In this yeshivah, the students would not have to have a daily rotation of eating at local homes, wandering the city streets like beggars. As was his way in all his enterprises, Mahara”m Shapira went all the way. He decided to build the most magnificent structure, a structure that would compete with the magnificence of the greatest universities in Europe. This multi-storey building, aside from the study hall and the huge library, would have a fully-stocked dormitory, bath and laundry facilities. The yeshivah would express the glory of the Torah and its scholars. At first, Mahara”m Shapira expected to be able to collect all the necessary funds in Poland alone, but he quickly realized that he would have to travel to the American continent to reach his goals.
Mahara”m Shapira arrived in America in 1926, where he went from one state to another and from one city to another collecting funds for the yeshivah. He stayed in the United States until Sivan 1927. From there, he went to Canada, and then back to Europe. American Jews initially refused to give him donations, and he almost had to sell his watch to pay for his lodgings. Very slowly, through his phenomenal speaking skills, Mahara”m Shapira conquered the hearts of wealthy Americans, and eventually managed to collect the huge sum necessary to build the yeshivah. This receipt is written for the massive sum of five hundred dollars – the cost of a house in those years (this is apparently the reason the entire receipt was handwritten and signed by Mahara”m Shapira and not by the gabba’im ). This donation was given by J. H (Pessiyah) Miller of Philadelphia.
During that same trip, Mahara”m Shapira coined the phrase about what the gemara says in Tractate Chulin (7b): “The Jews are a holy people – there are those who want (to donate) but can’t, and those who can, but don’t want (to donate).” Mahara”m Shapira asked: While it’s all right for one who wants to donate but doesn’t have the wherewithal to be called “kadosh” because if he did have the capacity to donate, he would do so, but those who have the capacity to donate but do not do so – why are they called “kadosh”? He resolve this as follows: I established the Chachmei Lublin yeshivah only through donations from “those who have and do not want” – all those who want but do not have, despite their lofty intentions, could not help at all …
On the back of the receipt, Mahara”m Shapira wrote about his vision for Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin in five languages: “The world-class yeshivah in Lublin will bring the Torah home, educate thousands of scholars and spiritual leaders among the Jewish people, and satisfy all the students’ needs as well.”
Aside from the historic value of this receipt, it obviously has great Chassidic-segulah value as well, as a sacred manuscript by the gaon Rabbi Meir Shapira, a direct male descendant of the rebbe Rabbi Pinchas of Kortiz and the sons and grandsons of the printers of Slavuta and Zhitomir. Yet right before he would have been expected to be crowned with the title Admo”r of Koritz as successor to his ancestors, just before the age of 50, he passed away.
The tremendous power of Mahara”m Shapira’s blessings is related by his primary disciple, the gaon Rabbi Shmuel HaLevi Wosner, one of the gedolei hador of the previous generation, who experienced it himself. In his youth, while he studied at the yeshivah (he was known to be extraordinarily diligent), Mahara”m Shapira saw him sitting in the middle of the night in the yeshivah’s beautiful garden and studying by the light of the moon. Given that this could have damaged his vision, Mahara”m Shapira approached him, kissed him on the head, and warmly blessed him: “Shmieleh (as he was known), I bless you that you will never have to wear glasses”! Rabbi Shmuel Wosner concludes: “I have already lived over 100 years, and to this very day, I have never needed glasses”!!
[1] leaf paper, 19 cm. High-quality paper. [15] words handwritten and signed in full by Mahara”m Shapira. Very fine condition. Fold mark.