Bidspirit auction | Rare Letter by the Gaon

Rare Letter by the Gaon Rabbi Leib Malin with a Mussar Idea about the Growth of a Ben Torah - Sent from Mir in 1937 - ”ענין גדול ורם עד למאד הנוגע למעשה והוא ענין של פקוח נפש”! A lengthy letter with rare content by the Gaon Rabbi Leib Malin containing a deep Mussar idea about the analogy between the growth of a yeshiva student and that of a tree - from the Torah of his teacher and Rav, the Mashgiach of Mir, the Gaon Rabbi Yerucham Leibovitz. Mir, Cheshvan, 1937.  The letter was sent to Dresden, Germany to a graduate of the Mir Yeshiva, in 1937 - the last year the yeshiva was still located in its original place in Mir, before the destruction of Europe. Shortly later, the yeshiva was forced to move to Vienna and from there, with the Gaon Rabbi Leib Malin, it was moved to faraway Shanghai. When the letter was written, no one could imagine that in less than two years, the glorious world of Lithuanian Jewry would collapse and the entire Yeshiva world would face a terrible destruction; the almost single remnant of that world being the Noah's Ark of the Mir Yeshiva in Shanghai.  Rabbi Leib writes this letter to a student who recently left the benches of the yeshivah and returned to his home in Germany, yet remained bound with ties of love to his rabbis and his fellow yeshivah companions. Driven by a sense of responsibility and spiritual concern, Rabbi Leib wishes to share with him the Mussar enactments and spiritual paths that the Bnei Yeshivah have taken upon themselves. Out of his great love for the student, and despite the heavy burdens of the time, Rabbi Leib puts into writing for him a complete and comprehensive moral path, the fruit of the teachings of the master of Mussar, the Mashgiach of the Mir Yeshivah, the Gaon Rabbi Yerucham Leibovitz, an idea that had never been written down until this letter. Oמ two large pages, he lays out before him, ”succinctly, ” the foundation of the matter: Just as a tree undergoes a prolonged process of growth -beginning with the sowing of the seed, through the stages of development and deepening into the soil, and culminating in the yielding of its fruit - so too does the Ben Torah undergo a parallel spiritual journey of character building, the shaping of personal traits, and growth in Avodat Hashem.  In recent year, after the discovery of this rare letter, the idea was published for the first time in the Sabbath supplement of Yated Ne'eman (see enclosed picture) and later in the book Hazrichah Bifatei Kedem (Bnei Berak, 2001).  This is the first source - the original manuscript in which this unique Mussar idea appears. In his letter, Rabbi Leib Malin writes about the idea that it is ”ענין גדול ורם עד למאד הנוגע למעשה והוא ענין של פקוח נפש... ובאמת שזהו תכלית וסוד החבורה הקדושה”. Although the letter was published later, personal details contained in it were not and they appear only in this manuscript.  A rare item of extraordinary historical and spiritual significance - a first source for the foundational Torat Mussar of the Beis Modrash of the leading Ba'alei Mussar and the Mir Yeshiva before the Destruction.  [2] large pp. Size of each page: 21X27 cm.  Good overall condiiton. Filing perforations. Fold lines. A tear along the fold line, not affecting the text, restored with tape.  *** The Gaon Rabbi Aryeh Leib Malin (1906-1962) a contemporary leading Rosh Yeshivah, author of Chiddushei Rabbi Aryeh Leib. Founder and head of the Beit HaTalmud Yeshivah in the USA. He studied Torah under Rabbi Shimon Shkop, Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman, and Rabbi Baruch Ber Leibovitz of Mir. He was also a leading disciple of the Mashgiach Rabbi Yerucham Leibovitz of Mir. The Chidushei Torah of Rabbi Aryeh Leib Malin, Chiddushei Rabbi Aryeh Leib, were edited and published by his nephew, Rabbi Baruch Dov Povarsky, and quickly became an indispensable cornerstone in the yeshivah world. His disciples include Rabbi Mordechai Elefant, Rabbi Shimshon David Pincus, and Rabbi Aharon Feldman. Well-known is the statement of the Gaon Rabbi Aharon Kotler that had Rabbi Malin not passed away prematurely, he would have become the leader of the generation!