A rare collection of congratulatory letters and telegrams to the "Saba of Slabodka" and his son –
by the Rabbanim of Lithuania
A large collection of postcards and a telegram notebook, containing greetings on the occasion of the wedding of the Gaon Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Finkel, with his wife Maras Golda, daughter of the Gaon Rabbi Yehuda Hachanochi, Av Beis Din of Ciechanowiec.
Many letters from the collection were sent directly to the father of the chassan – the mussar giant, the holy Gaon Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, the "Saba of Slobodka"!
This rare collection provides us with a historical glimpse into this great figure, and the admiration and love of his students for him.
Among the authors: Rabbi Avraham Noach Paley, Rabbi Yechiel Michal Gordon, Rabbi Chaim Yaakov Shulman, Rabbi Shmaria Yitzchak Bloch, and others (see details below).
* The Gaon Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel – "Der Alter" of Slabodka (1849-1927), was one of the leaders of the mussar movement. He received the first foundations of the study of mussar from his grandfather the "Saba of Kelm", a disciple of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter. After the death of the disciples of Rabbi Yisrael, he was the leading teacher of mussar and the father of the Lithuanian yeshivas of his generation. Through his influence, a network of yeshivas was established throughout Lithuania and Russia, making Lithuania the Torah center of the world. He was a gaon in mussar and machshava who had a tremendous impact on his students, who later became the greatest Roshei Yeshivas and great scholars of Torah and Mussar in Eretz Yisrael and America.
His son-in-law, Rabbi Avraham Shmuel, was mashgiach of the Knesses Yisrael Yeshiva in Chevron, and one of the founders of Yeshivas Heichal Talmud in Tel Aviv. His brother is the renowned Rosh Yeshiva of the Mir Yeshiva – Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel.
The collection contains: [17] postcards + letter + telegram notebook (written in a foreign language).
Condition: General condition is good to moderate. Minor defects in some postcards. A few punctures. Stains and wear and tear. The notebook is partially dismantled.
List of authors:
Postcards sent to the Sabba of Slabodka (some were sent to the two in-laws):
Rabbi Avraham Noach Paley (1876-1936), Shklov. One of the teachers of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein. He served as a mashgiach in many yeshivas in Lithuania, among them: Slutsk, Maltsch and Shklov. After immigrating to Eretz Yisrael, he served as a mashgiach at the Chevron Yeshiva.
Rabbi Yechiel Mordechai Gordon (1883-1965), Zambrov. In 1907 he was appointed Rosh Mesivta of the Lomza Yeshiva. After the Holocaust he immigrated to Eretz Yisrael and served as the Rosh Yeshiva of the Petach Tikva-Lomza, where many of the greatest scholars of the last generation studied.
Rabbi Yisrael Nissan Kark (d. 1938), Kovno. Student of Yeshivas Volozhin. He obtained semicha from Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor, and served as a posek and dayan in Kovno for 40 years.
Rabbi Yidel Isaac Osherowitz (Osherowitz; 1885-1993), Skidel. Student of Yeshivas Mir and Slabodka. He served as Rosh Yeshiva of Ohel Yitzhak in Kovno.
Rabbi Chaim Yaakov Shulman (1866-1938), a posek in Brisk. "A great and prominent Talmid Chacham, hidden in Torah and Yiras Shamayim, " in the words of the Brisker Rav for his sefer ‘Ikvei Chaim’. He served as a dayan in Brisk for many years, and later as a rabbi in Mohilov.
Rabbi Shlomo Chanoch Henich of Herm (born 1879), Av Beis Din of Apatchk. He obtained smicha from Rabbi Meir Simcha HaKohen of Dvinsk. He corresponded with the Rogotshover.
Rabbi Shmaria Yitzchak Bloch (1866-1924), one of the Lithuanian Rabbis and later a rabbi in England: Sunderland, Birmingham, and later London. He obtained smicha from Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor, Rabbi Shlomo HaKohen of Vilna and others. He was of the most prominent disciples of Rabbi Itchele Blazer.
* Rabbi Aryeh Leib Shanberg.
* Rabbi Meir Zelig Gronda, Khotsimsk.
* And others.
Postcards sent to the son-in-law, Rabbi Avraham Shmuel, and to his father-in-law, Rabbi Yehuda Hachanochi:
* Rabbi Asher Anshil Ettingin (perished in the Holocaust), Av Beis Din of Chomsk. He was one of the leading students of the Slobodka Yeshiva, and was sent to the Maltsch Yeshiva to serve as director of mussar. He served in the rabbinate of the city of Chomsk.
* Rabbi Simcha Wolpewski (born 1885; perished in the Warsaw Ghetto), one of the geniuses of Lithuania. He served as Rosh Mesivta in Skidel and Novardok and later in the Sokolov Yeshiva under the Rebbe Rabbi Yitzchak Zelig, and finally at the Tachmoni Beis Midrash Gavoah in Warsaw.
* Rabbi Avraham Pindrus, Av Beis Din of Radiville.
* Rabbi Moshe Avraham Ginzburg HaKohen.
* Rabbi Zerach Karpol, Lazdaya.
* And others
In addition to the postcards, the telegram notebook also survived, written in a foreign language (in pencil), and contains about [84] telegrams from the greatest rabbis in the
area of Lithuania and from the Saba of Slabodka’s students. Including:
Radin– Rabbi Landinsky, Levinson; Grodna– Rabbi Chaim Heller; Mir – Leibowitz, Gerstein, Gordon, Zaks, Finkel, Grodzinski; Vilna – Rubinstein; Lida – Rabinowitch, Polyatchik; Telz – Rabinowitz; Maltz – Daynovsky; Kovno – Gerber, Geller, Meller, Dvoretz, Yavlonsky, as well as a list of Slabodka Yeshiva students, including: Kamenetsky, Shuk, Lifshitz and others; Pluniyan – Feivelson; Mir – Kamai, Elishberg; Telz -Bloch; Lodz – Rabbi Shlomo Grodzinsky; Kharkov – Milyekovsky.
