Bidspirit auction | A Letter of Bracha for

A Letter of Bracha for the New Rav of Altona — from Rav Avraham Kalmanowitz-Av Beis Din of Rakov Rosh Yehsiva of Mir (1925) A warm, dignified letter sent on the occasion of Rav Yosef Carlebach’s appointment as Rav of Altona — together with congratulations on the birth of his son — written by Rabbi Avraham Kalmanowitz, then Av Beis Din of Rakov in Minsk. Rav Avraham’s letter overflows with praise and heartfelt brachos. And then, in a personal turn that lights up the whole page, he adds a father’s request: “Regarding my only son, the delight of my soul, who is learning in his Talmud Torah — please take interest in his learning and his conduct…” He was just 24 years old at the time! A young rav, already carrying a town on his shoulders — and at the same time, a father asking another rav to keep an eye on his precious boy. Rav Avraham Kalmanowitz (1891–1964) would later become world-famous as the driving force behind the rescue and rebuilding of the Mir Yeshiva after the war. In his youth he served as Av Beis Din in Rakov, and from 1929 as Rav of Tiktin. He was close to the Chafetz Chaim and to Rav Chaim Ozer of Vilna, and during the war years he worked with mesirus nefesh to sustain the Mirrer bochurim stranded in Shanghai. After the war, he also turned his energy toward building Torah for Sephardic communities in Morocco, founding Talmudei Torah and the yeshiva Neveh Shalom in Casablanca.