This interesting letter is addressed to Rabbi Aharon HaKohen Barak, director of the Va’ad HaYeshivot in Vilna.
[Tevet, 1932]
"Greetings with love,
Today I saw that my document’s validity has already expired two weeks ago. However, replacing it with another is impossible, as that would result in me losing the English visa that is attached to it. Therefore, we must ask the consul to extend the time on the same document. Please kindly return it to me as soon as possible.
Earlier, when I was in Riga, I was told that the consul has the discretion to reduce the fixed price. Therefore, please be so kind as to speak with him, as I am unable in my current poor financial situation to pay 120 zloty per year. Please implore him to give me a discount on the fixed price. If he refuses, we should at least request an extension for only six months. According to your promise, we waited last week for the committee’s decision regarding the due meeting of the Va’ad HaYeshivot, but as of now, we have not received anything. I ask that you hurry to send this, as the sustenance of the poor depends on it. Please also inform me of the decision regarding the journey of Rabbi Y. Shub to America.
Your friend who respects, honors, and blesses you with peace and every good thing.
Elchanan Bunim Wasserman."
Underneath a few lines from Rabbi Wasserman’s son, Rabbi Simcha Wasserman:
"I also inquire about the welfare of the honorable Rabbi Aharon Barak Shlit”a I ask that if possible, you let me know the cost of a luxurious binding for a sefer with the dimensions of a quarter volume, with a thickness of approximately 18 to 20 ‘bogen’ [leaves] for 100 or 200 seforim, as well as the cost of a simple binding. Please include this information in your reply to my esteemed father, may he live and be well, and I convey to you my greetings and best wishes,
Simcha Wasserman
Maran Rabbi Elchanan Bunim Wasserman (1875–1941) was the Rosh Yeshiva of Ohel Torah in Baranovich and one of the greatest Torah sages of all time. His scholarly works, Kovetz He’arot and Kovetz Shiurim, and his analytical method of Talmudic study, remain fundamental in the yeshiva world to this day. He was a student of Rabbi Shimon Shkop, Rabbi Eliezer Gordon, and Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk, and a devoted disciple of the Chafetz Chaim. He was also a fierce opponent of Zionism.
In 1903, he founded the Amstislav Yeshiva in Russia. In 1907, he moved to Radin, where he studied at the *Kolel Kadshim* under the Chafetz Chaim, becoming one of his foremost disciples. In 1910, he assumed the position of Rosh Yeshiva in Brisk, the seat of his teacher Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik. In 1921, he was appointed head of Yeshivat Ohel Torah in Baranovich.
His death in martyrdom, as one of the "Ten Martyrs, " shook many. While teaching the laws of sanctifying God’s name, he was taken for execution at the Seventh Fort near the Kovno Ghetto. May God avenge his blood.
Rabbi Elazar Simcha Wasserman (1898–1993) was the Rosh Yeshiva of Or Elchanan in the United States and the founder of the yeshiva in Israel. He was the eldest son of Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman. He studied at his father’s yeshiva in Baranovich and later at the yeshivot of Novardok, Grodno, Telz, and Kletzk. He joined his father on his journey to the United States to support the yeshiva and remained there. During the Holocaust, he was active in the American Va’ad Hatzalah. He worked extensively to publish his father’s writings, most notably Kovetz Shiurim.
14 x 21.6 cm.
Share this lot:
Lot #243