1. A letter requesting receipts for money sent to Jerusalem, addressed to Rabbi Moshe Nehemiah Kahanov.
Biala, 1886.
One page with a signature.
2. A letter from 1886 requesting the repayment of a loan made to an emissary from Jerusalem.
Two pages without a signature.
3. A brief response regarding matters of halitzah (ceremonial release from levirate marriage).
No signature.
4. A lengthy letter concerning the collection of testimony, handwritten and signed by the renowned genius, one of the great sages of Lithuania—Rabbi Aharon Shaul Zelig HaKohen Goryon-Meirow, Dünaburg-Dvinsk, 1870.
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, Yelisavetgrad 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 Jerusalem, 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.
Rabbi Aharon Shaul Zelig HaKohen Goryon-Meirow (1813-1879), son of Rabbi Meir Shalom HaKohen Goryon, a disciple of Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin and Av Beit Din of Karelichy. Known from a young age as a prodigy and scholar, he began studying Talmud at the age of 4 and by 18 was already appointed head of a yeshiva in Minsk, a position he held for 24 years. He later served as Av Beit Din in Brainsk and Pruzhan, becoming known in the Torah world as “the Prozhiner.” Around 1860, he served as Av Beit Din in Dünaburg-Dvinsk (succeeding the notable Rabbi Leib Zalkind Betlan).
He corresponded on halachic matters with Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan and other great scholars of Lithuania, and his responsa were published in their works (see Shu”t Be’er Yitzchak, Yoreh De’ah, Siman 26-28; Shu”t Roshei Besamim by his brother Rabbi Moshe Yoel HaKohen Goryon, Av Beit Din of Aniksht; Shu”t Be’er Moshe by his student Rabbi Moshe Dinishivsky; Shu”t Mishkan Betzalel by Rabbi Yehoshua Betzalel, Av Beit Din of Moltsh; and more). Some of his responsa were published in Teshuvot Leshoel (Kovno-Vilna, 1928-1929), and remnants of his writings were published in Magen Shaul (Jerusalem, 1954).
Please see also Lot
