Bidspirit auction | Rare Letter from Lomza Rabbanim

Rare Letter from Lomza Rabbanim to Rabbi Shmuel Salant 1878 * A lengthy letter of three pages that was sent from the Lomza community in 1878, to Rabbi Shmuel Salant, legendary Rav of Yerushalayim. The letter is regarding providing support to orphans who are entitled to receive an inheritance from their father who immigrated to Eretz Yisrael and passed away there, and a question arose regarding the matter. Several renowned Rabbanim of Poland signed this letter: The first leaf and a half contain the body of the letter, written by a scribe, and upon it are the signatures of the Ravaad of the Beis Din of Lomza, Rabbi Noach Yitzchak Diskin - the brother of the Maharil Diskin - and with him the Dayan, Rabbi Yehoshua Heshel. Afterwards, the Av Beis Din of the city - Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Rabinowitz - added another 10 wide lines in his handwriting and with his signature, for the benefit of the orphans and to swiftly bring to light justice regarding the matter. In his words, Rabbi Eliezer Simcha reminds Rabbi Shmuel of their youthful affection, when they met together in the city of Rogova at the house of the son-in-law of the Rabbi Eliezer Simcha, in 1840, twenty-eight years earlier! On the third leaf, Rabbi Yom Tov Lipman Chaim HaKohen, the Av Beis Din of the Zambrów community, near Lomza, added another six lines in his handwriting and with his signature, expressing his agreement with the Av Beis Din of Lomza in this important matter. A rare letter, containing several autographs of prominent Rabbanim of Poland and Lithuania, sent to the greatest Rav of Eretz Yisrael. Lomza, Sivan 1878. Three written pages, in large format: 21.8X27.6 cm. Condition: Ink stains and slight fading, fold marks with tiny tears. ---------------------------------------------- Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Rabinowitz, Av Beis Din of Lomza (1832–1911) , was an outstanding genius from his youth and one of the greatest Rabbanim of Poland and Lithuania. In 1870, he was appointed Av Beis Din of Suvalk, and from 1877 served as Av Beis Din of Lomza, in place of Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim Meizel who moved to Lodz. The present letter is thus from the very early period of his rabbinate in Lomza. He married Chava, granddaughter of Rabbi Itchele of Volozhin, daughter of his son-in-law Rabbi Levi Yaffe of Rogova, who is mentioned in the letter. Rabbi Yom Tov Lipman Chaim HaKohen, Av Beis Din of Zambrow, was a descendant of the Tosfos Yom Tov and a well-known Rav in Poland in his generation (Toldos Anshei Shem, Warsaw 1875, p. 26, footnote 39). He served as the head of Kollel Suvalk-Lomza. He was the father-in-law of Rabbi Menachem Regensberg, author of Divrei Menachem and Minchas Menachem, and grandfather of Rabbi Chaim Dovid Regensberg, one of the Rabbanim of the Beis Hamedrash LeTorah in Chicago. It is interesting to note that Rabbi Yom Tov Lipman Chaim was himself, for a very brief period, Av Beis Din of Lomza, shortly before the writing of the present letter. However, owing to governmental opposition, he returned to Zambrow, and his position was filled by Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Rabinowitz. In his lines here, he mentions twice ”the Gaavad of Lomza, ” namely Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Rabinowitz, who had already assumed the role, and honors him greatly. Rabbi Noach Yitzchak Diskin, Raavad of the Beis Din of Lomza (d. 1908) , son of Rabbi Binyamin Diskin, Av Beis Din of Lomza, and brother of the Maharil Diskin, who himself served as Av Beis Din of Lomza for about 15 years (1844–1859). An outstanding genius who was beloved by the people, he served as Raavad of the Beis Din in Lomza from 1874. His student was Rabbi Yoel Herzog (father of Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Herzog), who was a native of Lomza. For an in-depth discussion of these figures, see: Sefer Zikaron L’Kehillas Lomza, Tel Aviv 1953, pp. 109–111. ----------------------------------------- Rabbi Eliezer Simcha notes in his comments that at first they intended to send the letter to the Maharil Diskin, who had himself been Av Beis Din of Lomza, and had immigrated to Eretz Yisrael less than a year earlier. However, they did not wish to trouble the Maharil due to his frailty, and therefore sent the letter to Rabbi Shmuel Salant.