Bidspirit auction | Six Letters of Rabbi Chaim

Six Letters of Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski – On Civil Marriage and Other Topics – Vilna, 1936-1937 - Six letters of R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski. Vilna, Kislev 1936 to Shevat 1937. The letters are addressed to R. Yechezkel Abramsky, head of the London Beit Din, an intimate associate of his, and they discuss various public and private affairs. The first letter is handwritten and signed by R. Chaim Ozer, and the other letters are handwritten by his scribe, with several lines and signatures added by R. Chaim Ozer himself. Some of the letters discuss topics including the halachic status of civil marriage, and whether these marriages require a Get for divorce (R. Chaim Ozer writes that he corresponded with R. Tzvi Hirsch Ferber, a London rabbi, about this issue). The letters also discuss other topics: the Vaad HaYeshivot and the voyage to Paris R. Eliezer Yehudah Finkel made with R. Abramsky for the Vaad HaYeshivot [apparently in connection with the estate of a wealthy French individual, see Kedem, Auction 109, 1 September 2026, Lots 197-198; the present letters mention that R. Elchanan Wasserman and R. Aharon Kotler were the impetus for the trip]; assistance for the Ramailes yeshiva in Vilna; assistance for the Chazon Ish in Eretz Israel; stressing the prohibition of stunning animals before shechitah, which should not be used even for hospitals (the concern being that it would threaten recognition of the prohibition, even though technically it would be allowable for the sick); assistance for a yeshiva student traveling to England, R. Shalom Alter Perlow son of Rebbe Nechemiah of Baranovitch of the Koidanov dynasty; his joy at the release of R. Abramsky's sons, who had reached England after five years of detention by the Russian authorities; consolation for the passing of his elderly father R. Mordechai Zalman Abramsky; and other topics. Most letters have personal letters added, handwritten and signed (with initials) by the scribe, R. Aharon Dov Alter Voronovsky of Vilna – a relative of R. Abramsky, secretary, scribe and confidant of R. Chaim Ozer. Enclosed: Special letter of R. Alter Dov, regarding the assistance to R. Shalom Alter Perlow son of Rebbe Nechemiah of Baranovitch of the Koidanov dynasty. 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. Abramsky smuggled the manuscript of Part I of his Chazon Yechezkel from Slutsk to his teacher R. Chaim Ozer in Vilna, who was involved in its publication in Vilna, 1925, by his confidant R. Aharon Dov Alter Voronovsky (R. Abramsky's wife's cousin). When R. Abramsky was arrested by the Soviets and sent to Siberia in 1930, R. Chaim Ozer made world-spanning efforts to release him. After his release in 1931, R. Chaim Ozer and the Rebbe Rayatz of Lubavitch joined with R. Abramsky to initiate the project of sending Pesach flour and food packages to Jews under the Bolshevik regime in Russia. Likewise, R. Abramsky was active on missions on behalf of R. Chaim Ozer for yeshivas in Poland and Lithuania and for rabbis of Europe. They also cooperated on many public issues, including the struggles for Jewish marriage and against the anti-Semitic laws in Germany and Europe forbidding Jewish shechitah (requiring stunning animals before slaughtering, which renders the meat non-kosher), and on rescue activity for rabbis and yeshivas who fled as refugees to Vilna at the start of the Holocaust. The present letters reflect some of their cooperation on halachic issues, public and private affairs, assisting institutions, rabbis and individuals. R. Aharon Dov Alter Voronovsky (perished in the Holocaust) was a secretary and confidant of R.