Bidspirit auction | Extremely Rare: Kashrus Certificate for

Extremely Rare: Kashrus Certificate for an Inn, in the Handwriting of Rabbi Itchele Blazer — St. Petersburg, 1872 * A kashrus certificate for the owner of a roadside inn, granted by the renowned gaon Rabbi Yitzchak (Itchele) Blazer, Av Beis Din of St. Petersburg, the primary disciple of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter and one of the great figures of the Mussar movement. The entire certificate is in Rabbi Itchele’s handwriting and with his signature, and among his words, he writes: “This letter of mine shall serve as testimony in the hands of the bearer… that the kitchen establishment under his ownership is conducted with the highest standard of kashrus, in full accordance with Torah law. Even those who are most scrupulous in their observance may eat and be satiated from all that the aforementioned prepares, without the slightest concern or hesitation. In witness thereof, I have signed… in the year 1872, here in the [imperial capital] of St. Petersburg... Yitzchak Blazer, here in this holy afore-mentioned community.” This is one of the earliest known handwritten letters of Rabbi Itchele Blazer! In 1862, when Rabbi Itchele was only about twenty-five years old, and with the enthusiastic backing of his great teacher, Rabbi Itchele was appointed the first Rav of the Czarist imperial city of St. Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire (until the October Revolution of 1918, when Moscow became the capital city). Rabbi Itchele devoted all his strength to establishing the community in the path of Torah-true Judaism, despite the scorn and resistance of the maskilim, and he provided much assistance to the Jewish soldiers, the Cantonists. The present kashrus certificate is of considerable importance, for it is a rare remnant from the period when Rabbi Itchele served as a halachic authority in Klal Yisrael . Rabbi Itchele was fearful of issuing halachic rulings, and one of the reasons he left the rabbinate of St. Petersburg in 1877 was that he was compelled to involve himself in the grave halachos of gittin, as his descendants testified in the introduction to Pri Yitzchak, part II, Jerusalem, 1913. After leaving St. Petersburg, he ceased issuing practical halachic rulings altogether (Zechor Ahavas Kedumim, Bnei Brak 1997, p. 486). Rabbi Itchele Blazer (1837–1907) was one of the leading disciples of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, founder of the Mussar movement. For sixteen years, he served as Av Beis Din of St. Petersburg, and afterward returned to Kovno, where he devoted himself to spreading the teachings of Mussar. In 1904, he moved to Eretz Yisrael, where he was reunited with his childhood friend, Rabbi Naftali Amsterdam. His only known photograph is well known and was reportedly taken by mistake. He authored the 2-volume Pri Yitzchak. St. Petersburg, 1872. Page Count: Three and a half lines in the handwriting of Rabbi Itchele, with his signature. [1] folded paper leaf. Size of written area: Approx. 13.5 x 21 cm. Condition : Good, with small tears and old adhesive marks at the corners.