Auction 44
Lot 135:
Letter signed by the gaon Rabbi Shimshon Aharon Polansky. Typewritten on official letterhead of the “Dayan and Moreh Tzedek of the Beit Yisrael community, grandson of the rabbi Liber HaGadol and the Rahak of Koritz and Rahak Nachum of Chernobyl and the Rahak of Berdichev…in Jerusalem.” From Nissan 1947. Addressed to “the honor of the geonim rabbis who sit in judgement and the gabbais of synagogues and to all the benefactors and the children of Israel everywhere”. He writes a warm recommendation on behalf of a yeshiva in extreme financial straits: “Metivta d’Yerushalayim Torat Chesed, many of whom are talmidei chachamim, studying intensely night and day, especially many of whom who are avrechim and bachurim with excellent skills and yirei hashem and have nothing in this world but the Torah, all of whom are earning a living through the yeshiva…I call from the depths of my heart for you to come to the aid of this yeshiva…especially now after the events of the recent years in which most of our world has been destroyed…you will be blessed by the source of blessings with a long life and sustenance and may we merit a geulah shlema soon”. Handwritten signature and his official stamp (partially erased). Size: 21x28cm. Tears at the edges, on the back an additional page is attached for reinforcement, repairs along the length (damage to text), stains, overall fair condition.
Rabbi Shimshon Aharon Polansky (1876-1948) was a great posek in Russia and then in Jerusalem, where he also served as rabbi of the Beit Yisrael neighborhood. He was revered by all the greats of his generation for his knowledge and extraordinary genius in the Torah, it is known that Rabbi Zvi Pesach Frank would not rule on serious questions without receiving his opinion, and Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook stated that he was "the number one scholar in Jerusalem". He was known as a great expert in the laws of Nida and his mesorah and rulings in the laws of ketamim and marot have influenced many for generations in this field. Most of the rabbis of Jerusalem and some of the greatest arbitrators in recent generations studied under him, including the geonim: Rabbi David Jungreis, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, Rabbi Shmuel Halevi Wasner, Rabbi Israel Yaakov Fischer, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, and others. His theology was included in several books by the sages of his generation, and in the book "Vayosef Shaul" with 22 simanim of his chidushim.
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