Bidspirit auction | A Heartfelt Plea to Save

A Heartfelt Plea to Save Yeshivas Slabodka — in the Hand of Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein (Tishrei 1927) A deeply moving letter, entirely in the ksav yad of Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein, Rosh Yeshivas Slabodka, addressed to Rav Yosef Carlebach, Av Beis Din of Altona, seeking urgent assistance for the yeshiva — which had already been transplanted to Eretz Yisrael. Dated 7 Tishrei 5688 (1927). “Anochi yagati b’anchasi u’menuchah lo matzasi… All funds that reached my hand I rushed to send onward, knowing that the bochurim of the holy yeshiva are suffering from hunger and terrible want…” You can feel the weight between the lines: a Rosh Yeshiva carrying the achrayus of his talmidim across continents, restless, pained, and utterly devoted to their survival. Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein (1866–1934 ), among the gedolei roshei yeshiva of Lithuania, was already known in his youth in Volozhin as the Illui from Bakst. He later served as Rav of Slabodka and Rosh Yeshiva. In 1923 he led the historic transfer of the yeshiva to Eretz Yisrael, first to Chevron, and after the 1929 riots, to Yerushalayim — where it remains a citadel of Torah to this day. His seforim include Levushai Mordechai on Shas and teshuvos.