Bidspirit auction | ‘Against my nature I restrained

‘Against my nature I restrained myself to again request of him for the benefit of an outstanding young woman’  – letter from HaGaon Rabbi Shimon Shkop, Grodno, 21 Marcheshvan 1937 Letter in the handwriting of HaGaon Rabbi Shimon Shkop to the renowned activist Rabbi Chaim Yisrael Eiss of Zurich, regarding an orphaned young woman from Grodno who wished to study in the Bais Yaakov teachers’ seminary in Krakow and lacked the means to pay the tuition. HaGaon Rabbi Shimon Shkop opened the letter with an apology which grants us a window into his spirit and refined sensitivity: ‘Although it has already been several months since I troubled Your Honor and it was not within his power to fulfill my request, and without doubt I caused discomfort to Your Honor, against my nature I restrained myself to again request of him for the benefit of an outstanding young woman.’ HaGaon Rabbi Shimon Yehuda HaKohen Shkop, Rosh Yeshiva of Grodno and author of “Shaarei Yosher” (1860–1940), was foremost among the Roshei Yeshiva of his generation, a wondrous genius, researcher, and profound thinker, while at the same time among the greatest masters of straightforward explanation. He first studied in Mir and afterward under Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin. At the age of twenty-four he began serving as a Rosh Mesivta in Telz, where he taught Torah for eighteen years. There, he developed his original method of study, which became firmly established among his students in particular and in the Yeshiva world generally. Thereafter, he served as Rav in Maltsh and Bryansk, where he maintained a Yeshiva. In 1920, he was requested by Rabbi Chaim Ozer to head the “Shaar HaTorah” Yeshiva in Grodno, where he served as Rosh Yeshiva for twenty years. Among all the Yeshivos of Poland, the Shaar HaTorah Yeshiva in Grodno was the poorest. Poverty and hunger were the lot of the Bachurim, and more than once the Yeshiva stood in danger of closure. See further in the Sefer “Torah Yevakshu MiPihu, ” chapter 12, and below, letter no. 2. Fold marks. Good condition.