Bidspirit auction | Letter from Rabbi Meir Shapiro

Letter from Rabbi Meir Shapiro of Lublin Lublin, 1932 * A beautiful handwritten and autographed letter in Yiddish by the great gaon Rabbi Meir Shapiro, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin and one of the great rabbanim of Poland in the pre-war period. In the letter, Rabbi Meir Shapiro writes that after much effort, he succeeded in obtaining a sum of money for a certain purpose, and he is sending it to the address of “the holy Admor shlit”a” (possibly referring to Rabbi Yisrael of Tchortkov or to the Imrei Emes of Ger). At the end of the letter, Rabbi Meir Shapiro blesses: “און השם זאל העלפין סזאל זיין צו אגיטין תכלית” – “May Hashem help that it be for a good purpose, ” and concludes: “And He Who said to His world: enough, will say to our troubles: enough.” The letter is written in his handwriting on official stationary, with an image of the renowned building of Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin. His complete and beautiful signature appears at the end: “The humble Meir Shapiro, Av Beis Din and Rosh Mesivta of the holy community of Lublin.” It is known that Rabbi Meir would note at the head of his letters the daf being learned that day in the Daf Yomi. On this particular sheet, there is a designated space at the top, beside the date, for recording the maseches and daf of the day! On this particular day, it was: Maseches Sukkah, Daf 55. This stationery is the most impressive and special among all the letterheads used by Rabbi Meir Shapiro throughout the years. It appears that he began using this design only from the second half of 1932, about a year and a half before his passing. This letter does not appear in the collection of Rabbi Shapiro's letters, Igros U’Toldos Rabbeinu Maharam Shapira of Lublin, Bnei Brak, 2011. Rabbi Meir Shapiro of Lublin (1887 - 1933) was a renowned Torah scholar and Rav of distinguished kehillos, deeply attached to his rebbis, an educator, composer and exceptional orator. Rosh Yeshiva of the highly prestigious Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin, he became world famous as the founder of the Daf HaYomi and was the head of Agudas Yisrael in Poland and a member of the Polish parliament. He passed away at the young age of forty-six and although he passed away childless, Rabbi Meir would say that he had two children: The Daf HaYomi and Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin. Lublin, Maseches Sukkah, Daf 55 – 20 Elul 1932. All in the handwriting and with the signature of Rabbi Meir Shapiro. Official letter paper, 20.8 × 27.4 cm. Condition: Good, with binding holes.