Nice letter with a list of donations of the city of Kavinsk, & the village of Ostkara in far away Siberia.
On the other side he wrote a list of donations by the Jews of Kavinsk.
The famous Gaon Rabbi Chaim Berlin (1832–1912), son of the illustrious Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin (Netziv) of Volozhin, was famous for his towering scholarship. A great rabbinical leader, he served in various communities in Russia including Moscow, Kobrin, Yelizavetgrad and Volozhin. In Volozhin, he also served as Rosh Yeshiva alongside his father until the yeshiva was forcibly closed by the Russian authorities.
During his time as Rabbi of Moscow, he raised a lot of money for the Volozhin yeshiva, and with his help, a magnificent stone building was erected that expanded the size of the yeshiva in place of the wooden building that preceded it. With the ascension of Alexander III to the throne, riots, decrees and expulsions began on the Jews of Russia. In 1882, an order was issued to deport the Jews of Moscow, Rabbi Chaim was informed that he too would not be spared and would not be able to stay in the city. At that time, his wife Rivka died. About a year after his wife’s death, Rabbi Chaim left the Moscow community and moved to the city of Byala Podolsk, which was A city with a distinct Hasidic character. In Byala Podolsk he remarried Mrs. Tila – the daughter of Rabbi Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Shacor of Mir. Rabbi Yitzchak was a Kotzk and Gur Hasidic, a wise and wealthy student (his son, Rabbi Noah Shacor, was the father-in-law of the Rebbe of Gur – R Avraham Mordechai Alter Baal Amri Amet). In Byala, Rabbi Chaim did not agree to accept the rabbinical position, even though he was offered it. During this period he wrote many Torah innovations and questions and answers in Halacha. And he became close to Rabbi Eliyahu David Rabinovitch-Teumim, and corresponded with him a lot. He lived in Biala for five years, until the year 1989 when his second wife died. Then he left Biala and moved to Volozhin to his father, the Naziv, who called to help with the management of the yeshiva and carrying the financial burden.
In 1906, he settled in Yerusholayim, where he served as assistant Chief Rabbi of the Ashkenazic community. Following the passing of Rabbi Shmuel Salant in 1909, he led the Jerusalem Rabbinate and headed many of Jerusalem’s charitable institutions. His complete dedication to the community endeared him to the many different religious factions of the city.
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Lot #105