Bidspirit auction | A Private, Urgent Letter Regarding

A Private, Urgent Letter Regarding a Shidduch — from the heilige R’ Eliezer Zusia of Skulen, 1927 A deeply personal and confidential letter in inyonei shidduchim, written by ksav yad kodsho of the gaon and tzaddik R’ Eliezer Zusia Portugal, Baal Noam Eliezer of Skulen, concerning a proposed shidduch for his divorced sister. The proposal under discussion was for her to marry the well-known gaon R’ Pinchas Epstein, then a dayan in Yerushalayim and later Raavad of the Eidah HaChareidis. The letter, dated Skulen 1927, is addressed to the editor of Kol Yisrael in Yerushalayim, R’ Rafael Katzenellenbogen, whom the Skulener Rebbe asks to discreetly investigate the matter. In his own words, the Rebbe writes with striking openness: “I have a sister who is divorced. Baruch Hashem she is distinguished in her ma’alos and middos tovos… She freed herself with a get, as her first husband strayed from the proper path, rachmana litzlan. A proposal has now come before us in writing… for a certain dayan in Yerushalayim, by the name of R’ Pinchas Epstein, who is a widower… We have no acquaintances there to inquire and investigate his nature — whether he is an adam shalem begufo, and the like… I therefore gather the courage to ask that you arouse yourself in this matter, for Chazal have taught that in such inyonei shidduchim one must act with great zerizus, and not delay even a single day…” The shadchan mentioned is R’ Yosef Shimon Pollak of Satmar, editor of Beis Vaad LaChachamim, who apparently knew R’ Epstein through his Torah writings. At the time of this suggestion, R’ Pinchas Epstein had been widowed for several years and was known to have endured that period with great personal difficulty, while remaining deeply immersed in Torah. The shidduch ultimately did not come to fruition. What became of the Skulener Rebbe’s sister is not known. What is revealed before us is something rare and moving: the Skulener Rebbe, already standing at the helm of kehilla and hanhagah, personally involving himself — with urgency, sensitivity, and dignity — in securing a bayis ne’eman for his sister.