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Handwritten Letter by the Skulener Rebbe with a Heartfelt Plea for the Spiritual Rescue of Orphaned Holocaust Survivors
Bucharest, 1949
Sent to the Admor Rabbi Baruch Hager of Seret-Vizhnitz, son of the Ahavas Yisrael of Vizhnitz.
The letter in its entirety is in the Rebbe’s holy handwriting
(without a signature), in which the Rebbe pleads and beseeches from the depths of his heart to exert every possible effort and utilize all resources for the spiritual rescue of orphaned children whose parents perished in the Holocaust.
"I rejoiced to see in his honor’s letter that he has begun this great mitzvah of rescuing the orphaned children, the surviving remnant of the Transnistria exile (a region under Romanian rule to which tens of thousands of Jews were exiled).
Please, let his honor listen to the cry of these orphans who call out to you: Save us!"
Later in the letter he requests assistance for two orphans "to bring them under the wings of the Shechinah, to place them in the Talmud Torah."
A historic letter, written under Communist rule in Romania.
Rabbi Eliezer Zusia Portugal of Skulen (1898 – 1982) was a great Torah scholar and prominent Rebbe who was close to the Rebbes of the Ruzhin dynasty. He served as Rav of Skulen, Romania, from the young age of 17, and later moved to Chernowitz where he established a Beis Medrash, becoming one of the chassidic leaders of his generation. He actively assisted his Jewish brethren in Romania, especially refugee children. His modest home was open to all and he fed poor children and helped them marry into good families. In 1960 he managed to leave Romania and immigrated to the United States where he established Torah institutions and became one of the most influential Rebbes in the post-holocaust generation. He established the Chesed L’Avraham institutions for rescuing refugee children from Romania, Transylvania, Bukovina, and the Maramures region.
The present letter is a wonderful example of the Rebbe’s compassionate leadership and his tremendous efforts to rescue children and send them to institutions where they would receive an authentic Jewish education.
The whole letter is in the Rebbe’s holy handwriting, without a signature.
Size: 15 x 21 cm.
Condition: Fold marks with tiny holes and tears.
