The letters were handwritten and signed by him, on official paper. The letters were written to Rabbi Shmuel Meir Holland. In one letter, the topic of the rabbinic assembly in Bessarabia is mentioned, in one he responds to one of the questions that it is not his way to respond to this type of question: “They do not need the construct of responsa.”
Rabbi Yehudah Leib Tsirelson [1860-1941] was rabbi of the region of Bessarabia, Kishinev, Russia [after there had been no rabbi of the city for approximately 70 years]. He also served in the rabbinate of Priluki for about 30 years. In his youth he studied under the Admor R’ Yisrael Noach Schneerson of Chaba”d, son of the “Tzemach Tzedek,” and was rabbinically ordained by him. In the 1910s, he was appointed to Agudat Yisrael’s Council of Torah Sages. While serving in the Bessarabia rabbinate, he established an entire system of Talmud Torahs, junior and senior yeshivahs. Many alumnae of his institutions [mainly in Kishinev] eventually became rabbis and Admors. Rabbi Tsirelson was killed in WII during an German aerial bombardment on Kishinev, and he was laid to rest in the city’s old cemetery.
Rabbi Shmuel Meir Holland was rabbi in Amsana and in Chernowitz in Amsana. He authored Shu”t She”m HaKohen and was known as Maharsha”m HaKohen.
[3] leaves. Ink on paper blanks. 21×12 cm. Handwritten and signed by him. Fine condition. Stains and creases.