Bidspirit auction | “May God grant that I

“May God grant that I will not be shamed in my old age; may He yet merit me to further magnify and glorify the Torah in circumstances more favorable than today, for, due to our many sins, my heart aches to see the harsh suffering of those who sit before God in the tent of Torah.” – Letter from the Gaon Rabbi Shimon Shkop and his son-in-law Rabbi Shraga Feivel Hends - Letter of thanks and request from the great Gaon Rabbi Shimon Shkop, and from his son-in-law the Gaon Rabbi Shraga Feivel Hends – sent to Rabbi Aharon Reuven Charni – Grodno, winter 5695 [1935] In the first part of the letter, Rabbi Shimon Shkop thanks Rabbi Aharon Reuven for the support he recently sent to his yeshiva ”Sha'ar HaTorah” in Grodno. At the end of the letter, Rabbi Shkop writes: ”May God grant that I will not be shamed in my old age; may He yet merit me to further magnify and glorify the Torah in circumstances more favorable than today, for, due to our many sins, my heart aches to see the harsh suffering of those who sit before God in the tent of Torah...” On the back page, the Gaon Rabbi Shraga Feivel Hends, Rabbi Shkop’s son-in-law, asks Rabbi Aharon Reuven to send him an article he published during Rabbi Shkop’s visit to the United States. The exalted Gaon, author of Sha'arei Yosher, Rabbi Shimon Yehuda HaKohen Shkop (1860–1940), was among the great Roshei Yeshiva of Lithuania and leaders of his generation. After studying for two years in the Mir Yeshiva, he joined a select group learning under the Gaon Rabbi Chaim of Brisk in the Volozhin Yeshiva. He married the niece of Rabbi Eliezer Gordon of Telz, who was impressed by his Torah greatness and invited him to serve as Rosh Yeshiva in Telz for eighteen years. In 1920, he was called by the Gaon Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzenski to head the Sha'ar HaTorah Yeshiva in Grodno, a position he held until his passing. There he published his major work Sha'arei Yosher, a foundational sefer studied in yeshivas worldwide. [1] leaf (2 written pages). Good condition. Minor tears along fold lines.