Bidspirit auction | Five Letters of Rabbi Chaim

Five Letters of Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski – Vilna, 1937 – Includes Halachic Discussion of Reliability of Agent of Divorce – Copies of Responsa of Rabbi Simchah Zelig, Head of Brisk Beit Din - Five letters from R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, addressed to his disciple and intimate associate, R. Yechezkel Abramsky, head of the London Beit Din. Vilna, Shevat, Adar and Nisan 1937. The letters were partially written by two of R. Chaim Ozer's scribes, with several lines handwritten and signed by R. Chaim Ozer – who signs over six times. Enclosed in addition are two copies of halachic responsa from R. Simchah Zelig, head of the Brisk Beit Din (handwritten by R. Chaim Ozer's scribes). The letters relate to various matters – halachic issues and public and private affairs (including consolation for the passing of his father R. Mordechai Zalman Abramsky – who had lived in Żołudek, Poland (present-day Zhaludok, Belarus), in his old age, and passed away in early Shevat 1937. In the letter dated 12th Shevat, R. Chaim Ozer writes that on the previous Thursday ”I wrote you a letter of consolation. I also informed you of what I responded to R. Ferber regarding civil marriage. Now yesterday, I received a telegram from the Beit Din asking for my opinion on a Get where the signed witnesses and the agent don't remember the case… but in the ledger of the Beit Din they found that the husband appointed the attendant as an agent for transporting the Get…”. R. Chaim Ozer writes that due to his faintness, it is hard for him to study this topic. In the letter dated 12th Adar, R. Chaim Ozer goes on to discuss the issue of testimony by the judge in the Beit Din ledger. He apologizes that he doesn't have a decision on the issue, and he adds that he wants to consult with ”another great person, and we will decide the case together with you”. [R. Chaim Ozer appears to have consulted R. Yitzchak Ze'ev Soloveitchik, the Brisker Rav, and the head of the Brisk Beit Din and senior posek R. Simchah Zelig Reguer; see below]. On the margins of the letter, R. Chaim Ozer writes that the sending of matzah to Russian rabbis for Pesach has been delayed, and asks Mr. Keiser ”to send it directly to the rabbis whose addresses I will provide…”. In the letter dated 7th Nisan, R. Chaim Ozer discusses the law mandating stunning of animals before slaughtered, and the trouble due to the expert opinion of Dr. Ehrenpreis of Stockholm ”who addressed the government ministers [in Sweden], telling them that there is no prohibition to stun animals before shechitah”. R. Chaim Ozer asks R. Abramsky ”to stay vigilant, and perhaps the Chief Rabbi Dr. Hertz can address Dr. Ehrenpreis asking him not to do such a thing, which… could cause serious damage to our people throughout the Jewish diaspora…”. He goes on to discuss the assistance to the Ramailes yeshiva in Vilna, mentioning that ”A.M. Keiser sent, at my request, packages for Pesach needs to seventy rabbis in Russia. R. Goodman also sent thirty packages. Thank G-d, I managed to return and send to all those who sought and requested it from there…”. R. Chaim Ozer concludes with Pesach blessings: ”I sign with much blessing, the blessing of the upcoming holy festival, in accordance with your pure desire and that of your friend, esteeming and respecting you, Chaim Ozer Grodzinski”. On verso of letter dated 7th Nisan, additional letter signed by R. Chaim Ozer, on the same topic of agency in a Get: ”As for your question regarding the Get, I informed the head rabbi of the Beit Din there [R. Yitzchak Ze'ev Soloveitchik] via the yeshiva dean of Brisk and to R. Simchah Zelig, and enclosed is his second responsum and his first letter. Although what he says has not been made clear to me, and I responded to him about this, nevertheless I saw fit to send you his letters…”. The copy of R. Simchah Zelig's first responsum is written on R. Chaim Ozer's official stationery. R. Simchah Zelig writes: ”In my opinion, you should write to hurry R. Yechezkel to deliver the Get, so that this will not become an irremediable situation…”. In the continuation (in the month of Nisan), R. Simchah Zelig writes an additional letter on the issue, citing various traditions he had received on similar cases regarding reliability based on writing, in the name of R. Akiva Eiger, the Beit HaLevi and R. Refael Shapiro, and regarding the question of a conditional Get given by a man on his deathbed, ”in the lifetime of the our master and teacher, the Gaon” [R. Chaim of Brisk]. He writes that in his opinion the Get can be delivered, ”and in my opinion there is no question about the matter, since the truth is that he is an agent. Therefore I said to R. Naftali son of R. Elchanan [Wasserman] that to me there is no question in the matter…”. [These two letters of R. Simchah Zelig were published in Moriah, VIII, issues 4-5 (88-89, Elul 1978, pp. 18-21]. In a letter dated Erev Pesach, R. Chaim Ozer writes regarding support for yeshivas and Dr.