Bidspirit auction | “Arouse Mercy in the Holy

“Arouse Mercy in the Holy Places”: Letter from Rabbi Shlomo Baruch Segal Prager Hy”d of Petrovo-Selo, Grandson of Maharam Schick – 1941 * A handwritten and autographed letter from the period of the Holocaust, by Rabbi Shlomo Baruch HaLevi Prager Hy”d, Av Beis Din of Petrovo-Selo (Yugoslavia, current-day Serbia). In the letter, Rabbi Shlomo Baruch pleads that prayers be offered on his behalf and on behalf of his children: “May it be Hashem’s will that we merit Pesachim whose blood reaches the wall of the Mizbe’ach Hashem favorably, your friend, Shlomo Baruch, son of Breindel, Rav of Petrovo-Selo. Please remember us favorably together with all our brethren, Bnei Yisrael, may Hashem protect them: my daughter Chaya Figla bas Rivka, may she live, for salvation… and my son Chaim Yaakov ben Rivka, who is in need of salvation… and also my son Moshe Zev, shlita, who is in the army and waits in hope to return home for good. My son Hillel also requires salvation. Please arouse mercy in the holy places for us and for all our brethren, Bnei Yisrael.” The letter is dated Adar 1941, at the height of the Holocaust. Soon afterward, Rabbi Shlomo Baruch was deported to Auschwitz, where he was murdered in 1944 together with members of his community, Hy”d. Rabbi Shlomo Baruch HaLevi Prager, Av Beis Din of Petrovo-Selo (1887–1944), was renowned as a tzaddik, a great oved Hashem, and a baal chessed. He was the son of Rabbi Yaakov Prager, Av Beis Din of Ada, who was a son-in-law of the Maharam Schick of Chust. He married the daughter of Rabbi Yehuda Lichtenstein (a nephew of Rabbi Hillel Lichtenstein). He studied Torah from Rabbi Yehuda Greenwald of Satmar, who cherished him and held him in great esteem. From 1913, he served as Rav in Petrovo-Selo, near the city of Ada, where approximately seventy Jewish families resided. His brothers-in-law include the rabbanim: Rabbi Ephraim Bilitzer of Betlan, Rabbi Mordechai Farhand of Nitra, Rabbi Yekusiel Lichtenstein of Balkany, Rabbi Shimon Lichtenstein of Lechnitz, and others. He was a remarkable individual; it is related that he would sometimes extend his Shemoneh Esrei prayer for as long as two hours. Many of his descendants — some of whom are mentioned in this letter for prayer — perished in the Holocaust, Hy”d. Several survived, among them Mrs. Breindel, who was first married to the Admor Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Stropkov and later to Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Greenwald of Tzehlim, one of the elder rabbanim of America. His life is recorded in the sefer Eileh Ezkera, vol. V, pp. 209–214. Petrovo-Selo, 1941. A letter written on a postcard: approximately 16 lines in the handwriting and with the signature of Rabbi Shlomo Baruch. On the reverse, there are several additional lines by an unidentified writer. Size : Approx. 9×14 cm. Condition : Generally good; filing hole and wear to one corner.