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“Is He Known for His Yirat Shamayim?” — An Important Letter by the Master of Mussar, Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe. 1966 - An autograph letter, entirely handwritten and signed by the renowned mashgiach, the gaon and tzaddik Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe zt”l, one of the foremost exponents of the Mussar movement in the last generation, foremost disciple and heir to the teachings of the legendary mashgiach Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz of Mir. Written in Be’er Yaakov on the 28th day of the Omer, 5726 [1966]. The letter is addressed to the gaon Rabbi Simcha Kaplan, Chief Rabbi of Safed, and concerns the appointment of the yeshivah’s emissary (shadar) to a rabbinic position in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. At the heart of the letter stands one of the most practical and sensitive questions in Jewish law: when does one have a duty to preserve a person’s dignity and refrain from speaking negatively about him, and when does one instead have an obligation to provide reliable information necessary for making an important decision? Questions of this nature arise frequently in the context of shidduch inquiries and public appointments, where one must determine what information may be disclosed and what must remain unsaid. Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe seeks an evaluation not only of the candidate’s qualifications and educational standing, but also of his yirat shamayim and level of religious observance. By their very nature, inquiries of this kind may involve information that is less than complimentary, placing them within one of the most sensitive areas of halachah—the boundaries of the prohibitions of lashon hara and rechilut. In this letter, the great master of Mussar articulates a fundamental principle: when an individual is being considered for an educational or public position, there may be an obligation to provide reliable information concerning the candidate, even when doing so requires the disclosure of personal information necessary for making a proper decision. Almost incidentally, the present letter reveals the international network of the Orthodox rabbinic world: a Jewish institution in Northern Europe turns to Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe in Be’er Yaakov; the renowned mashgiach, in turn, directs the inquiry to Rabbi Simcha Kaplan, Chief Rabbi of Safed, at the opposite end of the Land of Israel. Thus, the global reach of the Torah world is vividly reflected before us, many years before the modern world embraced the very concept of “globalization.” [1] leaf. 25 cm. Very good condition. The gaon and tzaddik Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe (1914–2005) was among the foremost mashgichim of the previous generation. One of the last surviving links to the classic Mussar movement, he was the foremost disciple and acknowledged heir of the legendary mashgiach Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz of Mir. Together with his close associate Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Shapira, he founded the renowned Be’er Yaakov Yeshivah, on whose official letterhead the present letter was written. Rabbi Wolbe was widely regarded as the “Dean of the Mashgichim.” His celebrated works, foremost among them the Alei Shur series, are distinguished by their remarkable clarity of thought and became foundational texts in the study of Jewish thought, character development, and Mussar. They achieved the status of standard works in yeshivot throughout the Torah world, as well as in teachers’ seminaries. Countless individuals sought his counsel, guidance, and blessing, and his influence continues to shape the world of