Bidspirit auction | Letter of Recommendation for the

Letter of Recommendation for the Novogrudok Yeshiva – Signed by the Gaon, Author of Aruch HaShulchan. Novogrudok, 1904. - An important and moving letter by one of the foremost halachic authorities of Lithuania and among the greatest rabbinic decisors of the later generations, the gaon Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein, rabbi of Novogrudok and author of the foundational work Aruch HaShulchan, addressed to Rabbi Dr. Michael Asher Kahn, rabbi of Basel, requesting assistance for the emissary of the Novogrudok Yeshiva then in Switzerland raising funds for the support of the yeshiva and its students. In his letter, the author of Aruch HaShulchan sets forth in warm and heartfelt language the distress of the Torah world and the hopes placed upon generous Jews abroad: “I have found it my duty to entreat Your Honor that now as well you should be of help in your city to the many Torah scholars who sit before God in study, and that you strengthen and encourage the emissary so that he may succeed and awaken the generous among the people to support with open hands this holy cause, which stands at the very summit of the Jewish world...” He continues by describing the gravity of the hour and the severe hardship: “The expenses are exceedingly great, while the income in our land has greatly diminished... and now there has been added turmoil and war, and many are leaving the land in great confusion, and only toward the generous of our Jewish brethren abroad are the eyes of the Torah scholars raised...” He concludes with a blessing issuing from a holy heart: “May the merit of the holy Torah protect him and all that is his.” Before us is a vivid and stirring document, reflecting the struggle for survival of the Lithuanian yeshivot at the dawn of the twentieth century, and the personal responsibility borne by the author of Aruch HaShulchan for the Torah world of his city and generation. His words reveal a profound sense of mission and faith that sustaining Torah is a “holy cause standing at the summit of the Jewish world.” Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein (1829–1908), among the leading sages of Lithuania and one of the central halachic authorities of the later generations, became renowned throughout the Jewish world through his monumental work Aruch HaShulchan, one of the foundational codes on all sections of the Shulchan Aruch. From 1874 he occupied the rabbinate of Novogrudok for thirty-four years, serving as spiritual leader to the community and its yeshiva. Students of the yeshiva came before him for rulings, guidance, and ordination. [1] Paper leaf. 28 x 21 cm. Autograph signature and official stamp. Condition: Fair. Stains.