Bidspirit auction | Touching Letter! The Rosh Yeshiva

Touching Letter! The Rosh Yeshiva the Gaon Rabbi Yechiel Gordon Asking for Information about His Daughter and Son-in-Law without Knowing They were already Mourdered!!! New York, 1945 - ונפשי אומללה מאד מכאב וצער - touching letter that was written with the end of the Holocaust - handwritten and signed by the Gaon Rabbi Yechiel Mordechai Gordon, the Rosh Yeshiva of Lomzha - addressed to the Gaon Rabbi Eliyahu Botchko the Rosh Yeshiva of Etz Chaim of Montreux, Switzerland - New York, 1945.  During the Holocaust, Rabbeinu was staying in the USA and was one of the activists of Vaad Hahatzalah, who met with senior USA officials in an effort to stop the Nazi destruction machine. Rabbeinu's family had remained in burning Europe and he feared for their dafety.  This letter was written several months after the end of the war. In it, he asks Rabbi Botchko to find out information about his daughter and son-in-law, Rabbi Eisel Kastakovsky, and their children. Today, we know that they had already been murdered.  ”ובקשתי שיחוש להצלתם וקבלתי אז מכתב ממעכת”ר שנבצר ממנו מה לעשות לפי המצב שמשלו הנאצים שם. והנה כעת ת”ל שנפלה ממשלת הזדון, אבל בנוגע לבני ביתי עדיין לא אדע מהם ונפשי אומללה מאד מכאב וצער...”. Later in the letter, Rabbi Gordon recounts that Dr. Zilberstein had told him that they had escaped with certificates to a certain village and that he had sent Dr. Ziulberstein many letters with no reply... The letter also contains a request for imformation about varied dignitaries and his disciples, students of the Lomzha Yeshiva.  An authentic and most touching letter which conveys the anxiety and concern of fathers for their sons in those days.  *** The Gaon Rabbi Yechiel Mordechai Gordon (1883-1965) the son of Rabbi Moshe Aharon. Was a disicple of the Saba of Slabodka and for a certain time studied under the Saba of Kelm. Was one of the Rosh Yeshivas of Lomzha, Poland and the founder of the LOmzha Yeshiva of Petach Tikvah. Author of Netiv Yam on the Rambam.