Bidspirit auction | A Moving Letter in the

A Moving Letter in the Handwriting of the Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan Requesting Support - “For the Preservation of the Holy Yeshiva Where Torah Has Been Taught for More Than Fifty Years, and of Which Very Few Remain” – A Moving Appeal Letter by Our Master, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, Seeking Support for His Yeshiva in Radin. Radin, [9 Nissan] 1923. A rare, moving, and historically important letter by the revered leader of Israel, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, addressed to the heads of the Committee of Agudath HaRabbanim of America, concerning the dispatch of a special emissary to the United States — the gaon Rabbi Yerachmiel Kumin — for the rescue and support of Radin Yeshiva. The letter was written on the Chafetz Chaim’s personal stationery, on Monday of Parashat Tzav, 9 Nissan 1923, and vividly reflects his great struggle for the preservation of Torah learning after years of war, famine, and severe economic collapse. In his letter, the Chafetz Chaim describes the lofty spiritual stature of the yeshiva on the one hand, and its dire financial distress on the other, in language issuing straight from the heart: “Our holy yeshiva is renowned for praise, thank God, because of its great worth and its men distinguished in Torah and fear of Heaven... and has produced much in the world for many years. But now, because of the terrible inflation and the collapse of currency values in our country, all the former sources of support have fallen away... and even the assistance received from the Central Relief is insufficient to cover even half of the tremendous burden resting upon us...” He therefore asks that aid be extended to his trusted emissary: “To obtain support and establish permanent endowments for our holy yeshiva... to awaken our Jewish brethren in the communities known to them, that they should lend their hand to this holy cause, for the preservation of the holy yeshiva where Torah has been taught for more than fifty years, and of which very few remain.” These words, written with anguish and profound responsibility, offer a rare glimpse into the heart of the Chafetz Chaim — the aged sage bearing upon his shoulders the fate of Torah in his generation. In the margin of the letter, the Chafetz Chaim added three broad lines in his own holy handwriting, containing rare and heartfelt blessings: “And I hereby conclude with blessing: May the pleasantness of God rest upon you, and may He establish the work of your hands, to magnify and strengthen our holy Torah, and to exalt the honor of God and His Torah in His world, according to their noble souls and according to the soul of he who honors them, in accordance with their lofty worth. Yisrael Meir HaKohen of Radin, author of the books Chafetz Chaim and Mishnah Berurah.” Before us is a deeply stirring document — the voice of the Chafetz Chaim calling for aid to his holy yeshiva, one of the last great yeshivot remaining in old Europe on the eve of destruction. [1] Official stationery leaf. 22 x 28 cm. Condition: Good. Minor tears with strengthening repairs. Light staining.