Conversation of angels
Beautiful letter of responsa, lengthy (approximately 100 words) and unique. Entirely handwritten and signed by the gadol hador of the previous generation, the gaon Rabbi Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim Kanievsky. Sent to his friend, may he be well, “the excellent gaon, the rav Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl” – rabbi of the Jewish Quarter. Shikun Chazon Ish, Bnei Brak, 1960.
This rare and unique letter is from Reb Chaim’s youth, while he was yet an avreich , about thirty years old. It is interesting to see his style of responsa, how already back then it was so very similar to the responsa he put out in his later years, when he was considered “Sar HaTorah” – the same short-and-to-the-point style. However, in this letter, the gaon Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky writes much more at length than the style familiar from his earlier and all the more so his more recent letters, beginning from the lengthy line of rare titles with which he crowns his friend, the gaon Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl, and also the relatively expansive discussion in the letter itself.
The letter bears responsa to six questions Rabbi Nebenzahl referred to his dear friend Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, who was only a few years his senior. Yet despite the relative length of Reb Chaim’s responsa, except for three responsa in which Reb Chaim notes the references alongside the responsa – from which one can derive from the content of the responsum what the question was, for the remaining responsa, it is extremely unclear; one cannot easily derive the questions from the responsa. Fortunately, “Shmuel and his court are among us” and the gaon Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl, may he live long, is well among us in his vibrant beit midrash in the center of the Jewish Quarter, and in his great genius, he would certainly be able to enlighten the fortunate purchaser of this manuscript as to the content of the six questions he asked his close friend the gaon Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky over six decades ago.
This letter clearly demonstrates the deep friendship and close Torah connection between these two avreichim – who later became gedolei hador – who came from such different backgrounds (for example, in Responsa 3 and 4, Reb Chaim compliments Rabbi Nebenzahl “You wrote well!” [יפה כ'[תב]]). On the one hand, the gaon Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky was the son of the Steipler – who was extreme in his opinions and a sharp opponent of Zionism, and on the other hand, Reb Chaim was a close friend of the gaon Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl, son of the late state comptroller Dr. Yitzchak Ernst Nebenzahl and a soldier in the military rabbinate. Apparently the Torah of these two personalities forged much closeness between them, with this superseding the cultural and familial differences.
Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for brief biographies of the gaon Rabbi Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim Kanievsky and the gaon Rabbi Avigdor Yechezkel HaLevi Nebenzahl .
[1] postal postcard, approximately 15 cm, entirely (including the addressee’s details) handwritten and signed in full by the gaon Rabbi Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim Kanievsky.
Very fine condition.