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Rare! Rare Personal Letter by the Gaon Rabbi Avraham Eliyahu Kaplan, the ILuy of Rakov to His Wife the Rebbetzin - Minsk, 1881 - ”רעי ואהובי הגאון בתורה וצדיק במעשיו, מהר”ר אברהם אלי' זצ”ל מראקאוו, הוא הוא היה מידידי נפשי, מלבד גדלו בתורה היה בעל מדות תרומיות, ובאהבתו לקרב לתורה היה נורא מאד” (The Chofetz Chaim on the Iluy of Rakov) Extremely rare letter of three pages handwritten and signed by the Gaon Rabbi Avraham Eliyahu Kaplan, the ILuy of Rakov, which was written in Minsk in 1881. The letter is in Yiddish with some Hebrew expressions.  This is an extraordinary document, both due to its rarity and its content. Whereas most letters by Gedolei Yisrael contain Divrei Torah, public matters and leadership of comminities, this letter is a personal and intimate one. The letter was sent by a Lithuanian Gaon to his wife, opening a rare door to the private world of Gedolei Torah and enabling a rare peek at the relationsho between husband and wife.  Rabbi Avraham Eliyahu Kaplan lived most of the year as a Parush, studying Torah in Minsk. His pious wife, Rebbetzin Chanah Libah, remained in their home in Rakov, raising their children. Therefore, their relationship was based on the correspondence between them. This letter contains many contemporary historical and family information.  The beginning of the letter is particularly moving. The young Gaon addresses his wife with a warmth and affection that are exceedingly rare in letters by Gedolei Yisrael: ”טהייערע מיינע געטרייע” [My dear loyal one] and later in Hebrew: ”לרעייתי יקירתי, מחמל נפשי” [To my dear wife, apple of my eye]. Such expressions, which are almost non-existant in letter by Lithuanian rabbis, shed a special light on the loving relationship between Rabbi Avraham and his wife.  Letters by Rabbi Avraham Eliyahu Kaplan are extremely rare. A single letter by him was auctioned in the past by Moreshet Auctions (Auction 80, lot 76). [3] pages. 14X21 cm. per page.  Good condition. Creases.  *** Rabbi Avraham Eliyahu Kaplan, the ILuy of Rakov (1857-1889) the son of Rabbi Mordechai Moshe Posniakov (the family name was later changed to Kaplan) of Rakov near Minsk. When he was only 13 years old, the Rav of Rakov, the Gaon Rabbi Avraham Moshe Halevi chose him to be his daughter's bridegroom and sent him to study at the Volozhin Yeshiva, where he became close to the Gaon Rabbi Chaim Brisk who studied Chavruta with him despite his young age.  Rabbi Avraham Eliyahu was famed for his genius so much so that the Rabbeinu Chaim of Brisk said that he did not believe in Iluyim whose reputation precedes them, with one exception, the Iluy of Rakov... After his first wife's passing, Rabbi Avraham Eliyahu married the daughter of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Simcha Traub, the Rav of Keidan and moved there to serve as Ram at the Lomzha Yeshiva. Unfortunately, he passed away when he was only 34 years old. Several months after his passing, his wife gave birth to their son, who was named after his father, Rabbi Avraham Eliyahu Kaplan, one of the leading disciples of the Saba of Slabodka. The son, like his father, passed away young when he was only 35 years old.