Bidspirit auction | ”Accepted to Baranovitch” – Rabbi

”Accepted to Baranovitch” – Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman's Autograph Letter to an American Bochur – Toledo, Ohio, 1938 Beautiful autograph letter, written entirely in the ksav yad and bearing the autograph signature of Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman , to his talmid Rabbi Dovid Hershowitz , who would later found and head Kollel Beis Yechiel in Bnei Brak. While still a bochur in America, Rabbi Dovid longed to study in Yeshivas Baranovitch. In this letter, Rabbi Elchanan informs him that he has been accepted to the yeshivah under the agreed-upon arrangements: he would receive his meals at the yeshivah, earn five dollars per month for his writing on behalf of the yeshivah, and would be required to provide an additional ten dollars of his own toward his additional educational and personal expenses. Rabbi Elchanan concludes with his warm brachah: ”...Blessing him that his departure should be in peace, his arrival should be in peace, and that he should be blessed with every good. Elchanan Bunim Wasserman.” Indeed, the letter bore fruit. Rabbi Dovid left America and traveled to Yeshivas Baranovitch, where he immersed himself in Torah under Rabbi Elchanan's guidance. In later years, he settled in Eretz Yisroel and established Beis Medrash and Kollel Beis Yechiel in Bnei Brak. Before us is a remarkable letter that offers a vivid glimpse into the world of the great yeshivos of prewar Poland. It bears eloquent witness to the extraordinary ahavas haTorah of both rebbe and talmid: on the one hand, a Rosh Yeshivah personally arranging every detail for a bochur traveling from across the ocean to learn Torah; on the other, a young American bochur willing to leave behind his home and all that was familiar to merit studying in one of the foremost yeshivos of Europe.