Bidspirit auction | A rare letter from the

A rare letter from the Mussar Gaon Rabbi Eizik Sher, Rosh Yeshivat Slabodka, to the Gaon Rabbi Meir Berlin - A political–ideological letter, entirely handwritten and signed by the great Rosh Yeshiva of Slabodka, the eminent Gaon Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Sher—one of the foremost heads of yeshivot in the generation of the Holocaust, whose influence shaped the Torah world as it exists today. Slabodka, Erev Shavuot, 1930 (תר”ץ). The letter was sent to Rabbi Meir Berlin, son of the great leader of the generation, the Netziv of Volozhin, who later changed his ideological orientation and became a central supporter of the Zionist leadership and of the “Mizrachi” movement. Background: In 1927 Rabbi Meir Berlin immigrated to the Land of Israel, where he was quickly appointed to several high offices in the leadership of the emerging state, including: head of the Zionist Executive Committee, and member of the Provisional State Council. Following his appointment to these prestigious public positions, Rabbi Eizik Sher sent him the present letter. The content of the letter is striking: Although Rabbi Meir Berlin had adopted a different ideological worldview and had become a Zionist leader—an orientation that many rabbinic colleagues viewed as having “strayed”—the master of Mussar, Rabbi Eizik Sher, did not refrain from honoring him and addressing him with titles usually reserved for the greatest Torah giants: “The renowned and exalted Gaon… a man of profound understanding… the honorable Rabbi Meir Berlin shlit”a… to honor and revere such a great man, extraordinary in Torah, in fear of Heaven, and in good deeds without measure… May his splendor flourish like the olive tree, may he blossom like the vine, and may his name endure as long as the sun!” [2] written pages. 27 cm. Official stationery. Entirely in his holy handwriting, with his signature and personal stamp. Condition: Good. Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Sher (1875–1952) A towering genius and one of the great leaders of the Mussar movement. He studied in the yeshivot of Halusk, Volozhin, Slutsk, and Slabodka. After marrying the daughter of the “Alter of Slabodka, ” Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, he spent several years studying in the Kelm Talmud Torah. He served as head of the Kollel in Kovno and as a senior lecturer in the “Knesses Yisrael” Yeshiva of Slabodka. After part of the Slabodka yeshiva relocated to found the Hebron Yeshiva, Rabbi Sher was appointed Rosh Yeshiva of Slabodka in Lithuania. At the outbreak of World War II he was in Switzerland; from there he immigrated to Eretz Yisrael and re-established the Slabodka Yeshiva in Bnei Brak. Rabbi Meir Berlin (Bar-Ilan) (1880–1949) The youngest son of the Netziv of Volozhin. He served as the rebbi of Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer in the Volozhin Yeshiva. A rabbi, author, and prominent Zionist leader—one of the founders and heads of the Mizrachi movement and religious Zionism. He headed the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (later Yeshiva University), served as secretary of the World Mizrachi, chairman of the Mizrachi movement, founded its American branch, and served as its president. He was co-chairman of the Jewish National Fund, head of the Zionist Executive, and a member of Israel’s Provisional State Council. A famous anecdote records that when asked why he abandoned the illustrious surname “Berlin”—symbolic of a storied rabbinic dynasty—and adopted the unfamiliar name “Bar-Ilan, ” he replied with classic Volozhin wit: “I prefer to be remembered in history as the first Bar-Ilan rather than the last Berlin.”