Holocaust testimonial document (Geviyat Eidus) for a woman of Czernowitz whose husband & children were killed by the Germans Ym”s in 1941.
Holocaust testimonials done in Brooklyn are rare. Written on the reverse side of a printed letter by the Holy Rebbe Yosef Greenwald of Pupa.
The Gaon Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Henkin (1881-1973), was a preeminent Torah scholar & widely recognized as one of the greatest Poskim in America. In his youth, he studied under Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer in Slutsk, and received Semicha from him, as well as from RabbiBoruch Ber Leibowitz and the Ridvaz.
In 1922 after serving as Rabbi of several towns throughout Russia, he emigrated to America. In 1925 he became the director of Ezras Torah, which provided assistance to scholars. He served in that capacity until his death, and held the position with great humility.
The Gaon Rabbi Shmaryahu Karelitz [1918 – 2001] was among the founders of Kollel Chazon Ish in Bnei Brak, the first to stand at its head after being requested to do so by the Chazon Ish. In his youth he learned in Yeshivat Novhardok in Pinsk, with Rabbi Shmuel Weintraub and with his uncle Rabbi Yisrael Yaakov Kanievsky – the ‘Steipler, ’ as well as in Yeshivat Kennesset Beit Yitzchak in Kaminetz, with Reb Baruch Ber. He learned in Klezk as well, receiving the Torah of Rabbi Aharon Kotler. On the eve of the Second World War, he immigrated to Palestine with his family and learned in the Lomza yeshiva in Petach Tikva. In 1956 he went to many countries on rabbinic missions. His rabbinic period in the diaspora lasted a total of 45 years.
Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Kruger was born in Zolkow. Rabbi of Brussels & later the Menahel of Agudas Harabanim.
During the Holocaust Aristides de Sousa Mendes was inspired by Rabbi Chaim Kruger, who refused to accept the visa offered to him until all of the Jewish refugees in Bordeaux received them too. This selfless refusal was the catalyst for Sousa Mendes’s large-scale rescue action. Furthermore, Rabbi Kruger’s role in collecting passports and delivering them in batches enabled Sousa Mendes to issue the visas faster and more efficiently.
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Lot #489