Handwritten leaf by R. Isser Zalman Meltzer, with a draft of the approbation he wrote for the publication of Avi Ezri by his disciple and sister's son-in-law, R. Elazar Menachem Shach. [Jerusalem, Iyar 1948].
Unsigned draft, with erasures and additions, on R. Isser Zalman's official stationery.
R. Isser Zalman Meltzer (1870-1953), author of Even HaAzel. A leading Torah scholar of Lithuania and Jerusalem, he was born in Mir and studied in the Volozhin yeshiva under the Netziv and R. Chaim of Brisk, who esteemed him highly. After his marriage he served as the first yeshiva dean of the Knesset Yisrael yeshiva in Slabodka along with R. Moshe Mordechai Epstein, and later moved to Slutsk where he established a large yeshiva and subsequently succeeded the Ridvaz as Rabbi of the city. He immigrated to Jerusalem in 1924 and was appointed dean of the Etz Chaim yeshiva. He was also a leader of Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah, and father-in-law of R. Aharon Kotler, dean of Kletsk and Lakewood yeshivas.
His nephew and close disciple,
R. Elazar Menachem Man Shach (1898-2002), author of Avi Ezri, was a leading yeshiva dean of the previous generation. Born in Lithuania, he studied in his youth in the Ponevezh, Slabodka and Slutsk yeshivas. He served as lecturer in the Slutsk and Kletsk yeshivas, and as dean of the Karlin yeshiva in Luninets. During the Holocaust, he immigrated to Eretz Israel, and became a close disciple of the Brisker Rav. He served as lecturer in the Kletsk yeshiva in Rechovot, and the Lomza yeshiva in Petach Tikva. He was later appointed lecturer and dean of the Ponevezh yeshiva in Bnei Brak. He was a member and leader of Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah, and stood at the helm of the Torah world for decades.
[1] leaf. Official stationery. 22 cm. Good-fair condition. Dampstains.
