Auction 35
Lot 153:
Typewritten letter on official letterhead of the “Yeshiva Gedola Telz of Cleveland.” From 24th of Tammuz 1943, addressed to Rabbi Yehuda Leib Zeltzer, probably on streamlining donations and the way to address them, “please edit the letter using the above wording, it’s from the Va’ad Rabanim of New York…it is understood that you must change it slightly so it’s not exactly the same…”. Signed by hand by “Rabbi Eliyahu Meir ben gaon Moharil Bloch” and “Haim Mordechai Katz, son-in-law of the Gaon Moharil.” Size: 20x28cm. Folding creases, overall good condition.
Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Bloch (1894-1955) was the rosh yeshiva of Telz, son of Rabbi Yosef Yehuda Leib. He was a leader of American Jewry. He started as Ram in the Telz yeshiva under his father, and in 1940 at the height of World War II he succeeded miraculously to escape Lithuania and arrived in the US, where they set up in Cleveland and re-established the yeshiva together with his brother-in-law Rabbi Haim Mordechai Katz and Rabbi Mordechai Gipter of Telz and other rebbe’im. He also served on the Council of Torah Sages of America.
Rabbi Haim Mordechai Katz (1894-1965) was the son of Rabbi Yaakov, a student in the Slobodka, Volozhin, and Telz yeshivot. He was a son-in-law of the rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Yosef Yehuda Bloch of Telz. He was a founder of the mechina for the yeshiva and administered the Kollel avreichim. He was a founder of Agudas Yisrael youth movement, active in the Yavneh movement. He arrived in the US in 1940 and established Telz yeshiva with his brother-in-law.
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