Letter from Rabbi Moshe Soloveitchik

Letter written and signed by Rabbi Moshe Soloveitchik of Zurich.

The letter is addressed to Gaon D. Frankel and includes a complaint about the behavior of Bank Leumi: "The rabbis are angry about this and said that they don't understand this type of behavior ..." He concludes: "There is no news here, the nation is busy with the mitzvot of the holidays, and the other mitzvot, with prayer that Hashem should see the righteousness of His nation with fear of G-d in their eyes, and He will send us Mashiach and redeem us for eternity ...."

Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Mordechai Soloveitchik [1915-1995] was the son of Rabbi Yisrael Gershon, eldest son of Rabbi Chaim of Brisk. In his youth, he studied in Kaminetz with Rabbi Baruch Ber Leibowitz. In 1938, he traveled to Switzerland, following his friend HaGaon HaRav Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman, to evade the Polish draft. When the Second World War broke out, he remained in Switzerland and never returned to Brisk, where his family remained and were wiped out during the Holocaust. During the war, he was imprisoned with HaRav Shteinman for a year in a internment camp established by the Swiss government for citizens and refugees and worked in a labor camp for a period of time. After the war, he traveled to the Land of Israel where he studied in Lomza, Petach Tikva. He was close to the Chazon Ish and had a warm relationship with his uncle, the Brisker Rav. He later returned to Switzerland and headed the yeshiva in Lugano. He was one of the leading influences of Swiss Jewry and a leader of European Orthodox Jewry and helped instill Jewish values in the community. Some of the lectures he gave on Psalms were published after his passing, in German. He toiled to respond to the Chazon Ish's critique on Chiddushei Rabbeinu Chaim HaLevi on the Rambam, and did not leave even one comment unanswered.

[1] leaf with text on both its sides, 22x15 cm. Very fine condition.