Bidspirit auction | Two Important Letters Handwritten by

Two Important Letters Handwritten by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lau of Piotrków - A Secret Plan to Buy the Western Wall - Historical Discovery - 1929 - A. Letter handwritten and signed by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lau, from the time he was the Rabbi of Presov, Slovakia, [1929], to Rabbi Menachem Mendel Babad, Av Beit Din of Homara. In Presov, Rabbi Lau founded the ”Torat Chaim” yeshiva, which had about 200 students from Eastern Europe. Rabbi Lau knew each of his students personally. In the letter, Rabbi Lau refers to an affair that has been unknown until now: the involvement of ”Agudat Yisrael” in a secret initiative to buy the Western Wall from the Arabs. ”The Society in Frankfurt is trying secretly to sell the place of the Western Wall and requests were sent secretly to all our personalities to raise large funds for this cause. And still it is a secret so the Arabs will not add to the sum and God will help us buy the Wall from those merciless who want to steal what is ours”. The letter was most likely written immediately after the 1929Palestine Riots. Already during the Ottoman rule, when the Western Wall and the Moroccan Quarter were part of a territory owned by the Waqf, Jews offered to buy the Western Wall from the Waqf. These attempts, however, failed. During the British Mandate, additional attempts were made on behalf of the Zionist Federation to buy the plaza of the Western Wall and to evict the Moroccan Quarter, compensating its evicted residents and building them an alternative neighborhood. These attempts also failed. Before us is a historical discovery regarding attempts to buy the Western Wall by ”Agudat Yisrael” abroad after the Zionist attempts to do so had failed. At the end of the letter, Rabbi Lau added several lines to his friend Rabbi Avraham Moshe Babad (who later replaced his father, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Babad, after his death in 1930). 23x28 cm. Condition: Good. Stains. Slight tears at the margins. B. An additional, earlier letter handwritten and signed by him, from when he was a rabbi in Suceava, Romania, to Rabbi Menachem Mendel Babad (the year is unnoted. Written after 1919 and before 1929). ”I have been asked by Switzerland to come there and give a public speech…” he also describes his future speeches in Vienna (maybe in the congress of ”Agudat Yisrael” in 1929). Signed: Moshe Chaim ben Leah Hinda”. After his signature, he added several lines ”to his son my friend” - Rabbi Avraham Moshe Babad. In the letter, he refers to Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Lau. Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lau (1892-1942) was the rabbi of Suceava, Presov and Piotrków. Died in Treblinka. Already at a young age he stood out as a leader when he participated in a protest against Chilul Shabbat in Lvov and gave a speech. He studied at the ”Tiferet Bachurim” Yeshiva and received his rabbinical ordination at the age of 17 by Rabbi Shalom Mordechai Schwadron. During World War I, he took care of Jewish soldiers of the Austro-German army. He studied the issue of Agunot and published Hebrew and German articles on the subject. Influenced by his brother, Yisrael Yosef, he became close to the Rebbe, Rabbi Yisrael Hager of Vizhnitz, and married his daughter Devorah. In 1919, when he was 27, he became the rabbi of Suceava, Romania. He initiated the establishment of a yeshiva in Czernowitz and worked on opening educational institutions for girls in many cities in Galicia. In 1929 he became the rabbi of Presov, Slovakia. There he founded the ”Torat Chaim” Yeshiva. After his cousin, Rabbi Meir Shapira, left Piotrków., where he served as a rabbi, Rabbi Moshe Chaim was asked to replace him. On the 3rd of Cheshvan 1943, the Jews of the town, headed by their rabbi, were taken to Treblinka. One of his sons is Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau Shalita, the former Chief Rabbi. His grandson, Rabbi David Lau Shalita, is the current Chief Rabbi. 21x34 cm. Condition: Good. Slight tears. Time stains.