Auction 70
Lot 317:
Lengthy and touching letter, by Rabbi Dov Yehuda, the son of the Tzaddik Rabbi Zundel of Salant, about the printing of the writings of the great Gaon Rabbi Yosef Feimer, Av Beit Din of Slutzk and one of the leading rabbis of Lithuania – Brooklyn, 1931.
Background: the printing of the writings of the Gaon Rabbi Yossaleh Slutzker can provide material for an epic saga. As indicated by Rabbeinu in his letter, Rabbi Yossaleh Slutzker’s grandson, Yosef, travelled to America to raise funds for printing his grandfather’s books, staying there for almost sixty years: "וזה הוא כמעט ששה שנים שנמצא באמריקא". As we know today, eventually, the grandson did not manage to print the books. Moreover, a good part of the manuscripts was destroyed in a fire! Only three volumes survived. The manuscripts reached the Chazon Ish, who was greatly impressed by them and asked his relatives to make an effort to print them. Even this did not yield results until they were published in the 1980s by the Jerusalem Institute (see the foreword to Shut Rabbeinu Yosef MeSlutzk, published by the Jerusalem Institute).
Rabbeinu addressed his letter to the philanthropist Mr. Bergman and in it, he recalls all that had happened to the writings and what it would take to commemorate the Gaon of Slutzk.
Letters handwritten by Rabbeinu are rare!
Written on the official stationery of the Gaon Rabbi Yosef Feimer (the grandson) and signed by Rabbi "דוב יהודא בהרב ר’ זונדיל סאלאנטער זצ"ל מסלוצק".
21X27 cm.
Good condition.
The Gaon Rabbi Dov Yehuda Deina, Rav of Slutzk and later in Brooklyn, New York. The son of the Tzaddik Gaon Rabbi Zundel of Salant, the founder of the Mussar Movement – the Rav of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter and father-in-law of Rabbi Shmuel Salant, the rav of Jerusalem.
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