Bidspirit auction | Historic Will of the Chofetz

Historic Will of the Chofetz Chaim zt”l. Fascinating Handwritten Document Addressing His Life, His Mission, and the Future of the Radin Yeshiva Radin, 1926 * The will of the Chofetz Chaim zt”l, in which he sets forth the defining milestones of his life and his lifelong activities on behalf of the public, and instructions regarding the future of the Radin yeshiva and its leadership after he passes away. It is written in its entirety in his own handwriting with his full signature: “Here in Radin, the words of Yisrael Meir HaKohen, son of Rabbi Aryeh Zev HaKohen, author of the sefer Chofetz Chaim and Mishnah Brurah.” In his will, the Chofetz Chaim, with his characteristic humility, composes an emotional summary of his life — an autobiography — and gives thanks to Hashem for the merit of his activities on behalf of the public. He begins by setting forth the idea that profoundly impacted his generation and continues to do so to this day — awakening people to the severity of the prohibition of speaking lashon hara. He writes: “Hashem placed it in my heart to arouse people regarding the aspect of speech [shemiras halashon], that it not be treated as hefker (ownerless), and to make a broad framework for presenting to the world the great significance of this matter. Hashem granted me favor in the eyes of the world, and my words were accepted… In the years 1871 and 1872 I composed the sefer Chofetz Chaim, parts I and II, and I set my heart to bring it to print, and Hashem helped me that in the year 1873 I printed it in its entirety… and in the year 1876 I also published Shemiras Halashon.” He recounts the founding of the yeshiva upon his arrival in Radin in 1869: “From the time I came to Radin, my spirit was aroused, with Hashem’s help, to gather young men and married scholars for the study of Torah.” He testifies about himself that despite being busy with the writing of his sefarim, “I did not avert my eyes from the yeshiva, to sustain it, to expand it, and to oversee it in all matters that it required.” He writes of his yearning to move to Eretz Yisrael in his old age, and reveals that he was prevented from doing so by Heaven: “In my old age, it was my intention to travel to the Holy Land and to leave the yeshiva in its place, and I made all the preparations necessary for this; however, I was prevented by Heaven, for suddenly, on the very day I was prepared to depart, my wife fell ill with a dangerous illness… and consequently I am compelled to remain here.” Out of his deep concern for the future of the yeshiva after his passing, he appoints his son-in-law Rabbi Menachem Mendel Zaks (later the Rosh Yeshiva of Chofetz Chaim in New York) to serve after his passing as a maggid shiur and to deliver shiurim “by my power and by my right, ” alongside Rabbi Naftali Trop. He entrusts the administration of the yeshiva, both in material and spiritual matters, to his grandsons, Rabbi Yehoshua Heshel Levinson and Rabbi Eliezer Zev Kaplan. In this will, the Chofetz Chaim summarized sixty years of devotion to Klal Yisrael, marked by these milestones: · The founding of the yeshiva in 1869; · The composition of the sefer Chofetz Chaim in 1871–1872; · The printing of sefer Chofetz Chaim in 1873; · The printing of sefer Shemiras Halashon in 1876; · The addition of his son-in-law Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Levinson to the leadership of the yeshiva in 1887; · The passing of the above mentioned son-in-law in 1921 and the inclusion of his grandsons in the yeshiva’s leadership; · And, in 1926, the writing of the will itself and the transfer of his task of delivering shiurim to his son-in-law Rabbi Menachem Mendel Zaks, together with the appointment of his grandsons to lead the yeshiva. *** A sense of sacred reverence envelops whoever holds this extraordinary will. This is not a regular letter or document, but a holy testament, written from the depths of the heart of the great tzaddik, as he expresses his profound concern for the fruit of his labors of over nearly sixty years and entrusts his most precious asset — the great yeshiva — to the hands of future generations. One can attempt to imagine the great tzaddik, the Chofetz Chaim, at his advanced age of eighty-seven, secluded in the Holy of Holies — his small room in his modest home in Radin — sitting and setting down in writing, with the humility and simplicity that so characterized him, carefully choosing his words as he records the essence of his life and his work — the dissemination of the prohibition of speaking lashon hara and the safeguarding of the tongue, and the spreading of Torah to the multitudes. At the end of the will, on the day it was written, 11 Teves 1926, are the signatures of the grandsons of the Chofetz Chaim, Rabbi Yehoshua Heshel Levinson and Rabbi Eliezer Zev Kaplan, both figures who devoted themselves to the existence of the yeshiva during the lifetime of the Chofetz Chaim and afterward, until they were murdered in the Holocaust in 1944.