Bidspirit auction | “With All My Spiritual Powers”

“With All My Spiritual Powers” — A Rare Autograph Letter of the Wonder-Working Kabbalist Rabbi Yitzchak Huberman, “The Tzaddik of Ra’anana”. - “The holy Yitzchak Huberman, descendant of the rabbi of all the Diaspora, the true halachic authority, the Shach, may his merit protect us” — his rare signature in the present letter. A special and moving letter, entirely in the holy handwriting and with the signature of the holy gaon Rabbi Yitzchak Huberman, sent shortly after his immigration to Eretz Israel. Ra’anana, 20 Sivan 1950. The letter was addressed to the World Committee of HaPoel HaMizrachi, when Rabbi Huberman was still hidden from the public and almost unknown. Only in later years did leading Torah figures begin sending difficult cases to him for blessing and counsel, and his name spread by word of mouth as a miracle-worker and po’el yeshuos. Before us is an unusual letter containing rare and deeply moving expressions, hardly found in his later correspondence, when he was already widely known as an exalted tzaddik and no longer needed to persuade anyone. The content of the letter concerns a simple and modest request: to receive sacred books so that he could study and teach others, after all his books had been lost in the Holocaust: “All my books were burned in Poland.” Rabbi Huberman asks not for money or material support, but only for books from the Jewish Agency storerooms, where many books lay unused in those years. He testifies that he saw this with his own eyes: “I was at the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Jerusalem and saw there houses full of books of all kinds.” He adds painfully: “And no one seeks them, and in a whisper they revealed to me the secret that this requires a note from above.” The pain of a Torah scholar and Holocaust survivor bursts forth in the continuation of the letter: “But for one who needs to study and teach... for him there are none? Is this possible?... I express my pain before you, that I sit almost without books... and I do not even have a Midrash — and who like you knows that there is no craftsman without tools...” The politicians’ response, attached to the present lot, is painful to read. At that time they did not yet know who the writer was, for Rabbi Huberman had only recently arrived in Eretz Israel. Yet how could one reject the request of a Torah scholar and Holocaust survivor whose sole wish was to study Torah and teach it to others? Their laconic reply was: “At present we have no books for distribution.” Rabbi Huberman immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1950, and this letter was sent in Sivan of that same year, making it one of his earliest letters written in the Holy Land. It is well known that autograph manuscripts and signatures of tzaddikim are regarded as a segulah for protection and salvation. Before us is a letter of approximately 200 words, entirely in his holy handwriting and bearing his signature, from one of the greatest hidden tzaddikim of recent generations, whose spiritual stature was praised by leading Torah authorities from every circle during his lifetime. The letter contains the segulah words “with all my spiritual powers” and an exceptionally rare signature, perhaps unique: “The holy Yitzchak Huberman, descendant of the great gaon, the true halachic authority, the Shach, may his merit protect us.” [1] postal postcard, 15 × 9 cm. Very good condition. Accompanied by the reply letter from the Ministry of Religious Affairs. The Chassidic kabbalist Rabbi Yitzchak HaKohen Huberman — “the Tzaddik of Ra’anana” (1896–1977) — was born in Poland and studied under great Rebbes and tzaddikim, including Rabbi Yaakov Mordechai of Bilgoray, the author of Shem MiShmuel of Sochatchov, and the Imrei Emes of Gur. He was close to the Gur and Lubavitch courts. During the Holocaust he was exiled to Siberia for forced labor cutting trees. When forced to desecrate Shabbos, he cut the tip of his finger so that he would be unable to work. After the war he served for six years as rabbi of the city of Wetzlar in Germany, and later immigrated to Israel and settled in Ra’anana. Over the years he became known as a kabbalist, miracle-worker and po’el yeshuos, and leading Torah figures would send people to him for blessing and counsel. Rabbi Shach wrote of him in an approbation to his book: “renowned for being filled with knowledge in both the revealed and hidden Torah.” In the introduction to his book Ben Le’Asheri appear wondrous stories attesting to the power of his prayers and the salvations brought about through them. Thus, it is related that when a plane in Uganda was hijacked by terrorists, who threatened to destroy the aircraft together with its passengers—about seventy people—and all seemed lost, a relative of one of the passengers came in panic to Rabbi Huberman and asked for his blessing. To his surprise, the rabbi answered firmly that there was no reason to worry. Several days later,