Bidspirit auction | ”They should be beautiful… pure

”They should be beautiful… pure as gold.” Fascinating Letter by Rabbi Chaim Berlin on Choosing His Personal Esrog 1888 * This is a handwritten and autographed letter written by Rabbi Chaim Berlin, Av Beis Din of Moscow and, in his later years, in Jerusalem. Rabbi Chaim Berlin was a son of the Netziv, Rosh Yeshiva of Volozhin, and a friend of Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk. In the letter, Reb Chaim requests from the person in Jerusalem he was writing to, that he obtain for him two esrogim from Eretz Yisrael, for the fulfillment of the mitzvah of Arba Minim. It is most interesting to read the detailed instructions that Reb Chaim gives regarding the esrogim: ”They should be beautiful, to the utmost degree of hiddur (perfection.) They should be no flaw whatsoever, pure as gold, without any change in appearance whatsoever, and without any spot whatsoever. And they should be large, and the more they grow, the more valuable they are (and it should be understood that the hiddur of their size does not outweigh the hiddur of their cleanliness), and that their growth be beautiful, and with a pitom in particular…” The letter was sent at the beginning of the month of Tammuz (!), and Reb Chaim requested that the esrogim be sent to him about a month and a half before the onset of the festival, so that they should reach him in time. The mitzvah of the esrog has, over the years, become a symbol of extraordinary beautification, as many strive to obtain a perfect esrog – and the most exquisite possible. Rare esrogim of this kind are sometimes sold for astronomical sums - up to thousands of dollars. Before us is the unique request of one of the great Gedolei Hador – in which he shows us his criteria for his personal esrog – so that it would be worthy of being used for the fulfillment of the mitzvah of Arba Minim! Rabbi Chaim Berlin (1832-1913) was the son of the Netziv, Rosh Yeshiva of the Volozhin Yeshiva. He was Av Beis Din of Moscow but was expelled from there in 1882. He then moved to the city of Biala, whose Jewish community was mostly Chassidic. In 1889, he returned to Volozhin. In his later years he immigrated to Eretz Yisrael, and after the passing of Rabbi Shmuel Salant, became the leader of the community together with Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin and Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld. His word was the final one in all matters, and many benefitted from his counsel and wisdom. Reb Chaim was among the halachic authorities who dealt with the two great esrog controversies of that time - and his opinion is cited in the works of poskim who addressed the matter. There was the debate over the esrogim from Eretz Yisrael and the Corfu esrogim, and the controversy regarding the heter mechira during the Shemitah year. As an aside – when Reb Chaim was young, he even considered engaging in the selling of esrogim, (see Nishmas Chaim, siman 89). At the beginning of the letter, Reb Chaim refers to the sending of 15 sets of Arba Minim to communities in Russia. Biala, Tammuz, 1888. Written entirely in the fine handwriting and with the signature of Rabbi Chaim Berlin. Condition: Good, tiny tears in the margins and some stains.