Letter of Good Year Wishes from Rebbe Rayatz of Lubavitch - Elul 1948

Letter of Good Year Wishes from Rebbe Rayatz of Lubavitch - Elul 1948

Letter of good year wishes from Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn - the Rayatz of Lubavitch, with his signature. Brooklyn NY, Erev Rosh Hashanah 1948.
Typewritten on the official stationery of Rebbe Rayatz, with his signature "Yosef Yitzchak".
Addressed to R. Chaim Nachman Kowalsky (1892-1978), with wishes for a good year.
[1] leaf, official stationery. 21.5 cm. Good condition. Folding marks and creases. Minor marginal tears.

R. Chaim Nachman Kowalsky (1892-1978), prominent Chassid of Chabad in the United States, connected to three generations of Chabad rebbes. Originally a Chassid of Kotsk, he was drawn to Rebbe Rashab and studied under him.
In the late 1920s, he immigrated to the United States where he was involved in communal work, spreading Chassidut, raising funds for Chabad yeshivot and rescuing Chabad students during the Holocaust. He was associated with the Rayatz, and after the latter's passing, he became very attached to the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
His son, R. Sholem Ber Kowalsky (1920-1997), Chassid and Chabad activist, rabbi of Young Israel in New York and a leader of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) during Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik's tenure as its president. He served as rabbi of Hillcrest NY for thirty years, where he established many Torah institutions. He founded Ezra, an organization assisting Russian Jewry behind the Iron Curtain. He would consult the Lubavitcher Rebbe on every issue pertaining to his communal work, and received the latter's detailed guidance. In 1996, he immigrated to Eretz Israel, settled in Jerusalem and worked in the Chief Rabbinate of Israel until his passing.