Auction 80
Lot 76:
Extremely rare and first time auctioned! Letter of 2 pages handwritten and signed by the Gaon Rabbi Avraham Eliyahu Kaplan, the Iluy of Rakov, the father of Rabbi Avraham Eliyahu Kaplan. The letter was sent from Minsk, where Rabbeinu was living by himself to study Torah, addressed to his (first) wife, the Rebbetzin, who was staying in her the house of her father, the Gaon Rabbi Avraham Moshe Halevi, the Rav of Rakov: "אור ליום ב’ פ’ בא תר"ם קרן לפ"ק מינסק, שלום רב לרעיתי מחמל נפשי הצנועה היקרה משכלת ביראת ה’ מרת חנה ליבע קאפלאן…".
In the Yiddish letter, Rabbeinu describes to his wife his experiences, thanks her for her letter and additional personal matters. Among others, there is a line about his health, which was not very good: "יעטצט ביי מיר קיינע נייעס, דאס בעסטע נייעס: דער געזונד!…" [freely translated: I have no news but the best: health!].
Later, Rabbeinu refers to the famed philanthropist Rabbi Shimon Wolf Rothschild: "… דער פרוממער הערר ראטהשילד פאן פראנקפורט אם מיין האט ענטדעקנט איין שול פיר יונגע-לייט "פרושים" אויף צו זיטצען לעהרנען די הייליגע תורה ראבבינער-שטודיום. אונד לעגטע דארויף איין האלבען מילליאן טהאללער קאססע פיר אויסהאלט די שול-לייטע [freely translated: "… the Chareidi Mr. Rothschild from Frankfurt am Main visited teh synagogue of the Avreichim the "Prushim" who study the sacred Torah and are examined to become rabbis And he left a fund of half a million talers to support the Avreichim].
Rabbeinu ends with blessing to his wife and his handwritten signature: "אברהם אליהו קאפלאן" adding his regards to his wife’s parents.
[1] leaf.
Rabbi Avraham Eliyahu Kaplan, the ILuy of Rakov (1857-1889) the son of Rabbi Mordechai Moshe Posniakov (the family name was later changed to Kaplan) of Rakov near Minsk. When he was only 13 years old, the Rav of Rakov, the Gaon Rabbi Avraham Moshe Halevi chose him to be his daughter’s bridegroom and sent him to study at the Volozhin Yeshiva, where he became close to the Gaon Rabbi Chaim Brisk who studied Chavruta with him despite his young age.
Rabbi Avraham Eliyahu was famed for his genius so much so that the Rabbeinu Chaim of Brisk said that he did not believe in Iluyim whose reputation precedes them, with one exception, the Iluy of Rakov…
After his first wife’s passing, Rabbi Avraham Eliyahu married the daughter of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Simcha Traub, the Rav of Keidan and moved there to serve as Ram at the Lomzha Yeshiva. Unfortunately, he passed away when he was only 34 years old. Several months after his passing, his wife gave birth to their son, who was named after his father, Rabbi Avraham Eliyahu Kaplan, one of the leading disciples of the Saba of Slabodka. The son, like his father, passed away young when he was only 35 years old.
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