Bidspirit auction | Three Letters of Rabbi Chaim

Three Letters of Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski – Saving the Old Vilna Cemetery – Sivan-Tamuz 1935 - Three letters of R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski. Vilna and Druskininkai, 1935. Addressed to R. Yechezkel Abramsky, head of the London Beit Din, an intimate associate of his. They discuss various matters, a fundraiser for Polish Jewry and public and private affairs. In the three letters, R. Chaim Ozer also discusses saving the old Vilna cemetery from the authorities, who wanted to destroy it to build a sports field for a nearby military post. Two of the letters are handwritten and signed by R. Chaim Ozer, while the last letter is handwritten by his scribe, with several lines and signatures handwritten by R. Chaim Ozer himself. In the letter dated Friday, 13th Sivan, R. Chaim Ozer writes among other things: ”You have surely heard that the magistrate and their superiors want to destroy the old cemetery and to remake it for sport for the soldiers residing nearby, which stirred a worldwide storm, and for the moment the matter is suspended. In our meeting this week, we decided to finish the fence and also to erect the pillars buried in the earth to protrude more, so that they can't say that we also abandon the graves of the tzaddikim, but to carry this out would require at least some thirty to forty thousand złoty, which is naturally, in light of the poverty in our city, impossible at present. And I began to think that perhaps we could get assistance from the Federation of Synagogues in London, so that even the community there can assist with a few hundred pounds”. R. Chaim Ozer continues the letter with an arrangement of the rabbinic office in Paris for R. Yisrael Soloveitchik of South Africa (grandson of the Beit HaLevi), inquires about R. Abramsky's private affairs, and concludes with an apology for his plans to take a vacation: ”I am about the leave, with G-d's help, for a short time to Druskininkai, because the time has come to rest from my occupation and breathe fresh air. Your loving friend, seeking your welfare, Chaim Ozer Grodzinski”. In the second letter, dated 27th Sivan, already written in the spa town Druskininkai, R. Chaim Ozer writes among other things of the authorities' change of mind, to preserve the old cemetery: ”Regarding the old cemetery, thank G-d, the Ministry issued a command not to touch it, and on the contrary it should be beautified, the fence should be built and the graves should be restored. However, while the danger has temporarily passed, if the fence is not fixed who knows what tomorrow will bring, if they have the desire another time, so this is a necessary matter for the Federation…”. R. Chaim Ozer goes on to mention the community council, suggesting that ”the Geder Olam council dedicated to this should please write an appeal signed by R. Rubinstein and myself… I will write to Rabbi Dr. Hertz that this is a necessary matter and the needed sum can by no means be gathered in our poor city…”. In the third letter, dated 2nd day of Rosh Chodesh Tamuz, he discusses the practical steps towards receiving a budget from the Federation in London for the Geder Olam society established in Vilna to repair the cemetery wall. This letter was written by his scribe R. Aharon Dov Alter Voronovsky, after which R. Chaim Ozer added two lines in his handwriting with his signature. At the foot of this letter are three more lines of a personal letter handwritten and signed (with initials) by R. Aharon Dov Alter Voronovsky of Vilna, R. Abramsky's relative, a secretary and confidant of R. Chaim Ozer. R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski (1863-1940) was a foremost rabbi of his generation and leader of European Jewry. He was the son of R. David Shlomo Grodzinski, Rabbi of Iwye. He was renowned from his childhood for his exceptional brilliance. He entered the Volozhin yeshiva at the young age of 11, and became a disciple of R. Chaim of Brisk. At the age of 24, he was appointed rabbi and posek of Vilna, succeeding his father-in-law R. Eliyahu Eliezer Grodnansky, a posek in Vilna (son-in-law of R. Yisrael Salanter). He assumed the yoke of public leadership from a young age, and his opinion was conclusive on all public issues which arose throughout the Jewish world for close to fifty years. The recipient of the letter, R. Yechezkel Abramsky (1886-1976), was a confidant and agent of R. Chaim Ozer of Vilna ever since developing close ties with him in his youth while studying under his influence in Vilna. In winter of 1806, the ”prodigy of Masty” Yechezkel Abramsky was forced to leave the Telshe yeshiva and flee to Vilna (then under Polish occupation) to avoid conscription to the Russian army. In Vilna he was accepted into the Ramailes yeshiva and joined the elite class of students who listened to the advanced lectures of R. Chaim Ozer (based on Melech BeYofyo, pp. 29-33). While subsequently serving as Rabbi of Smilavichy and Slutsk, he served often as R. Chaim Ozer's agent in various communal affairs. R.