Long & rare letter with Divrei Torah in Hilchot Mikvaot written & signed by the famous Gaon & Tzadik Rabbi Aryeh Levin to the Gaon & Tzadik Rabbi Moshe Yitzchak HaLevi Segal Rosh Yeshivas Manchester.
37 lines in the sacred handwriting of the father of the prisoners, Rabbi Aryeh Levin Zt”l one of the 36 hidden Tzaddikim – this is what the elders of the generation said about him at the time.
Jerusalem, 1938.
He ends:
"His esteemed friend eagerly awaits the mercy of Heaven for the salvation of the Lord, which will come in the blink of an eye upon His people & holy land Aryeh Levin."
The "Tzadik of Jerusalem" Rabbi Aryeh Levin (1885-1969), excelled in Torah and in charitable deeds. He served as the spiritual director and supervisor of the Etz Chaim Talmud Torah (boy’s school). An alumnus of Lithuanian yeshivot: Hlusk, Slutsk, Volozhin and the Torat Chaim yeshiva in Jerusalem, he was a cherished disciple of the leading Torah scholars of the generation: Rabbi Refael Shapiro of Volozhin, Rabbi Chaim Berlin, Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv the Leshem, Rabbi Baruch Ber Leibovitz, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, his brother-in-law Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank and Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik of Brisk. He immigrated to Jerusalem as an adolescent and married the granddaughter of the head of the Jerusalem Beit Din, R. Chaim Yaakov Shapira.
He was renowned for his dedication to acts of benevolence. He was a beloved friend to one and all, wholeheartedly sharing the difficulties and joys of his brethren.
Rabbi Aryeh, the "hidden Tzadik", concealed his greatness in the knowledge and study of mishnah, and despite his substantial composition on the Six Orders of Mishnah, he wrote in his will with exceptional humility: "…I am not fully proficient in even one chapter of mishnayot…". None of his disciples and associates knew about the comprehensive work he composed. Only in his final years did he give his grandson R. Elchanan Yakobovits (a Chabad Chassid) his manuscript notebooks on four orders. After the passing of R. Aryeh, his grandson (upon the advice of his teacher the Lubavitcher Rebbe) began editing this important commentary, yet its publication was delayed for many years, and only in 2011-2013 were three parts of the work finally published. R. Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, in his approbation to Mishnat Aryeh, writes about the author, his father-in-law: "My father-in-law R. Aryeh Levin, who in his great humility concealed and hid his Torah prominence…".
2 sides, 17.4 Cm. Good condition, light marginal tears, light age stains.
The recipient the Gaon Rabbi Moshe Yitzchak HaLevi Segal (1881-1947), a disciple of the Alter of Novardok. A founder of the Etz Chaim yeshiva in London, he also established the Manchester yeshiva, which he headed for some 35 years.
Rabbi Moshe Yitzchak was an outstanding Torah scholar and an exalted Tzaddik.
He devoted himself to disseminating Torah, and many of the rabbis of that time were his disciples (including Rabbi Shaul Wagschal of Gateshead, Rabbi Shmuel Alexander Unsdorfer, and others). Hegyonei Moharsha brings the wondrous testimony of two of his disciples, whose deceased father appeared to R. Moshe Yitzchak in a dream, requesting that he carefully supervise his orphaned sons. R. Moshe Yitzchak related the dream to them and asked them not to publicize it.
His son and successor as dean of the yeshiva was Rabbi Yehuda Ze’ev Segal (1911-1993), a holy Tzaddik and wonder-worker, who was very active in raising the awareness of the importance of guarding one’s speech, and was known as the Chafetz Chaim of England).
