Lot 296
Letter by Kabbalist Rabbi Shimon Zvi Horwitz - To the Chazon Ish - Inquiry about a Child's "Prophecy"
Autograph letter signed by the well-known Kabbalist R. "Shimon Zvi Horwitz Rabbi of the Sha'ar HaShamayim Yeshiva" Jerusalem. Av [1942? /or 1945?].
The letter is about lofty kabbalist matters and probes the wondrous hearsay of the "prophecy" of the Bnei Brak child who spoke with the Chazon Ish and revealed hidden things about the future Redemption: "Please forgive me but I have heard many stories and among them have also heard that a child who lives in Bnei Brak spoke about our future Redemption. I have received many requests that I write you because people have said that you yourself have spoken with the boy and can verify this. Due to much urging, I have conceded to their request to write you because you surely will impart to me the truth of this matter and due to the lowly situation, everyone yearns to hear tidings…".
Rabbi Shimon Tzvi Horowitz - Rabbi Shimon Lider (1870-1946), a leading Jerusalem Kabbalist and one of the heads of the Sha'ar HaShamayim Kabbalist Yeshiva, author of Kabbalist books. He was famed for his great yearning for the Redemption and for the various practices he adopted to advance its coming (prayers and tikunim and his attempts to seek the Ten Tribes - see his book "Kol Mevaser and his other books). He was born in Lida, Lithuania and immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1887. He studied at the Etz Chaim Yeshiva, and from a young age began studying Kabbalah in the Beit El Yeshiva for Sephardic Kabbalists located in the Old City of Jerusalem by R. Sasson Bachar Preciado (author of the Shemen Sasson commentary on Kabbalistic books) and from other leading Jerusalem Kabbalists earning the title "R. Shimon Mekubal" or "R. Shimon Lider" after his native city. In 1906, together with R. Chaim Yehuda Leib Auerbach, he established the Sha'ar HaShamayim Yeshiva for disseminating Kabbalah, and taught there for forty years. On the second day of Rosh Hashanah 1946, he died in the Motza neighborhood while following his usual practice of praying in seclusion on Rosh Hashanah and his funeral procession from Motza to Jerusalem took place that same day after receiving a special heter.
Leaf, 20 cm. Good condition, creases and folding marks.
The letter was dated according to the date it bears: Friday, the 3rd of Av, which fell on a Friday during the time the Chazon Ish lived in Bnei Brak only three times: in 1935, 1942 and in 1945.
