Bidspirit auction | A rabbinic letter to the

A rabbinic letter to the “Grajditser Tzaddik” - A precious letter concerning amulets and segulot, by Rabbi Yitzḥak Yaakov of Wronke [near Posen], to the holy Gaon Rabbi Eliyahu of Grajditz. Of significant historical value. Rabbi Yitzḥak Yaakov, rabbi of the holy community of Wronke, is mentioned in Kodesh Naftali (p. 178). The holy Gaon Rabbi Eliyahu Guttmacher of Grajditz (1796–1875), a towering sage in both the revealed and the hidden Torah, one of the greatest disciples of the gaon Rabbi Akiva Eger, a wondrous figure. He became renowned throughout the world as “the Tzaddik of Grajditz.” Multitudes flocked to his door to be helped by his blessings, until he was compelled to publish notices in the newspapers of the time requesting that they cease. Many approached him seeking amulets, among them numerous great sages of Israel. When an epidemic broke out in the city of Leslau in 1873, Rabbi Kalischer sent to one of his acquaintances in that city three amulets he had received from Rabbi Eliyahu Guttmacher of Grajditz, and in his letter he wrote that the amulets had been made already in the lifetime of our great master, the holy and saintly gaon Rabbi Akiva Eger, of blessed memory, “and the gaon of Grajditz, may he live, informed me that even then the amulet served as protection.” The renowned gaon Rabbi Ḥayyim of Kalisch, author of Nefesh Ḥayyah, who was among the admirers and disciples of Rabbi Guttmacher and exchanged responsa with him in halachah (Nefesh Ḥayyah, §1), also received amulets from him. He writes: “Abundant peace and all goodness to the honor of the gaon of Israel and its holy one, the chariot of Israel, , the rabbi who resembles an angel of the Lord of Hosts, the eminent rabbi, our master Eliyahu Guttmacher, may he be preserved in life, Av Beit Din of Grajditz, may it be built and established. I have duly received his holy letter with the amulets, and may the honor of his Torah graciously consent to send another hundred amulets.”