Bidspirit auction | ”Sichos Mussar” Booklet, 5732 (1972),

”Sichos Mussar” Booklet, 5732 (1972), with a Dedication Inscription by the Author, Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz, to Rabbi Aryeh Leib Gurvitz: ”Presented as a Token of Remembrance and Friendship.” - This booklet was presented by R. Chaim Shmuelevitz to R. Aryeh Leib Gurvitz, with a warm dediaction ”as a token of remembrance and friendship.” The dedication reflects a close relationship spanning many years, dating back to the first exile of the Mir Yeshivah in Vilna, where the two young prodigies first became acquainted. These two towering Torah personalities embodied the rare synthesis of profound Torah scholarship and the ethical ideals of the Mussar movement. Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz succeeded his father-in-law as Rosh Yeshivah of the Mir Yeshivah while simultaneously delivering its celebrated Mussar discourses. Recognized as an outstanding prodigy from childhood, he was sent at a young age to study at Sha'ar HaTorah in Grodno. So exceptional was his brilliance that Rabbi Shimon Shkop appointed him to deliver shiurim to the younger students while he was still a young man himself. Renowned for his extraordinary diligence and encyclopedic mastery, it was said in Mir that he knew every volume in the yeshivah library. At his funeral, Rabbi Elazar Menachem Man Shach famously eulogized him: ”With the passing of Reb Chaim, the diligent scholars have disappeared.” Rabbi Aryeh Leib Gurvitz (originally Kushelevsky) later taught Torah at Etz Chaim Yeshivah under the guidance of his father-in-law, Reb Eliyahu Lopian, and went on to become one of the founders and Roshei Yeshivah of the Gateshead Yeshivah. In his youth he studied at the Mir Yeshivah in Vilna, where he forged his lifelong friendship with Reb Chaim Shmuelevitz. The remarkable harmony between his moral greatness and his devotion to Torah is illustrated by the following well-known episode. When he faced the threat of expulsion from Lithuania because of his Polish citizenship, he traveled to Baranovich, where, with the assistance of a yeshivah student skilled in such matters, he obtained a forged Lithuanian passport. Adopting his mother's maiden name, Gurvitz, he retained that surname for the remainder of his life. As payment for preparing the forged passport, he agreed to remain in the Baranovich Yeshivah for an entire year, studying Ketzos HaChoshen in partnership with the student who had helped him. Ownership stamp on the title page of his eldest son, Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Gurvitz of Gateshead, who passed away this year. Soft binding. Good condition.