Bidspirit auction | A Heter Agunah from Rabbi

A Heter Agunah from Rabbi Hillel Lichtenstein of Krasna, author of Kavanas HaLev,   — Budapest, 1946 A powerful letter regarding a heter agunah, written in 1946 by Rabbi Hillel Lichtenstein of Krasna, author of Kavanas HaLev, to Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Roller, Av Beis Din of Nyametz. Rav Hillel recounts the tragic case of a talmid chacham, R’ Chaim Meir Indig, who had been seized by authorities near Danzig at the outbreak of the war and disappeared without a trace. His wife remained an agunah. She came crying to Rav Hillel — and he took the case upon himself. In the letter, Rav Hillel urges Rav Roller to join him in permitting the woman, reminding him of an earlier conversation in which Rav Roller had told him: any safek agunah d’Oraisa — send to me. You can feel between the lines the weight these Rabbanim carried after the war — case after case, woman after woman, broken homes waiting for clarity. Rav Hillel Lichtenstein (1900–1979) was widely known in the post-war years as one of the great matirei agunos. After the war he served as Rav in the Landsberg DP camp, where he dealt constantly with these heartbreaking shailos, later publishing responsa on the topic. In his sefer Kavanas HaLev, he even prints a kuntres, Roni Akara, where he brings foundations he heard from Rav Roller of Nyametz. This letter is another living piece of that partnership. As his descendants write in the introduction to Kavanas HaLev (New York, 1997): ”He would travel repeatedly to the great gaon Rav Chaim Mordechai Roller of Nyametz, and with siyata d’Shmaya nearly a thousand agunos were permitted through his efforts — and he did not stumble, even once. Many times open siyata d’Shmaya accompanied him, as if Heaven itself guarded him from error.” 1 sheet, 2 pages written, very good condition.