Auction 61 - Rare and Important Items
Letter by the Dombrova Gaon, Rabbi Nachum Weidenfeld, Author of Chazon Nachum - Elder Brother of the Tshebin Gaon
Opening: $750
Sold for: $1,125
Including buyer's premium
Long letter (4 pages) handwritten and signed by R. "Nachum Weidenfeld". Dombrowa, [ca. 1920s].
Long halachic responsum on the laws of Shevi'it, sent to R. Yeshaya HaLevi Horwitz, a rabbi from Safed, in response to his pamphlet on the laws of mixtures containing produce of the shemita year [printed in his book Yavo Shilo, St. Louis, 1926, section 1]. A long gloss (in purple ink) in the handwriting of the recipient, R. Yeshaya Horwitz, appears in the margin.
R. Nachum Weidenfeld (1875-1939), a leading Torah scholar and posek in Galicia. Second son of the Hrymayliv Gaon, author of Kochav M'Yaakov. From his youth, he was renowned as a prodigy and at the age of 15, exchanged halachic correspondence with leading Torah scholars of his times who highly regarded his opinion alongside those of prominent rabbis. At the age of 21, he accepted a rabbinical position in the city of Dambrowa (Galicia) succeeding his maternal grandfather, R. Shabtai HaCohen Rappaport. In the first year of this tenure, he was challenged with a complex question regarding an agunah disputed by Galician rabbis. R. Yechezkel of Sieniawa sent this inquiry to the young Dambrowa Rabbi for him to decide, arousing great interest throughout the Galician Torah world. That same year, R. Yitzchak Shmelkish mentions R. Nachum in his book, referring to him as "the great R. Nachum and at present Rabbi of Dambrowa" (Beit Yitzchak responsa, Even HaEzer, Part 2 section 1, a responsum from 1896 to R. Yissachar Dov of Belz). In 1907, he was sent to Eretz Israel on behalf of Kollel Galicia and he regulated the fundamentals of the kollel administration. His extensive study of the laws of Eretz Israel and its special mitzvoth produced his famed pamphlets containing the laws of shemita (Sabbatical year) and his opinion regarding the polemic of "heter mechira" in the 1910 shemita year. Friendship and frequent halachic correspondence existed between R. Wiedenfeld and Galician and Polish rabbis: the author of Avnei Nezer, the Maharsham and the Maharash Engel of Radomyśl, R. Yosef Engel and R. Meir Arik, author of Chelkat Yaakov and R. Meir Dan Plotzky, author of Kli Chemdah. These illustrious Torah authorities often cite their correspondence with R. Nachum.
At the outbreak of WWII, he fled his city via Kolvsov and upon reaching the border between Galicia and Russia was caught by German border guards who reputedly threw his holy tefillin to the ground. R. Nachum, without showing any trepidation, bent down, lifted the tefillin and kissed them. The guards grabbed the tefillin from his hands and brutally threw them down again threatening him with a gun no to lift them again. R. Nachum's pure heart could not bear the desecration of his holy tefillin. He fled eastward and had a fatal stroke on the outskirts of the city of Sieniawa and was buried near the gravesite of the Sieniawa Rebbe. Not one of his large progeny, sons and daughters and their spouses or any grandchildren survived the Holocaust.
The first part of his book Chazon Nachum was printed in Biłgoraj in the summer of 1939. Most of that edition was lost and burnt during the Holocaust, however, several copies did survive. R. Nachum's younger brother, the Tchebiner Rabbi reprinted the book from one of these copies in 1951. In the introduction, R. Dov Berish Weidenfeld writes of the great stature of his elder brother, "the outstanding Torah notable". He writes in the preface to that edition that only two or three copies of the book remain and that the rest of his many manuscripts (novellae on the Babylonian and on the Yerushalmi Talmud, homilies for Festivals and for Shabbat, Aggadic novellae, Mahadura Batra of his book of responsa, etc.) were sent to his son-in-law in Kolbuszowa for safekeeping and were lost during the Holocaust. Part 2 of his book was printed in a new edition in Jerusalem in 1993 with dozens of responsa compiled from other sources. This responsum was also printed there in section 64.
The recipient R. Yeshaya HaLevi Horowitz (1883-1978, Otzar HaRabbanim 11697), born in Safed, direct descendant of Rabbi Yeshaya HaLevi Horowitz, author of the Shelah HaKadosh. From 1908, served as rabbi of the Safed Chabad community and in 1909, was appointed member of the Beit Din of his teacher and mentor the Ridbaz [Rabbi Yaakov David Wilovsky]. After undergoing great affliction during the travails of World War I, he immigrated to the USA where he served as rabbi of the New York Chabad community. He began his tenure as rabbi of Winnipeg in 1923 and filled the position of Chief Rabbi of Western Canada for many years. In his senior years he returned to the Holy Land. He authored Yavo Shilo, Pardes Haaretz and Eden Zion.
Official stationery, [4] written pages, 22.5 cm. Good-fair condition, wear and minor tears to folding marks.
Long halachic responsum on the laws of Shevi'it, sent to R. Yeshaya HaLevi Horwitz, a rabbi from Safed, in response to his pamphlet on the laws of mixtures containing produce of the shemita year [printed in his book Yavo Shilo, St. Louis, 1926, section 1]. A long gloss (in purple ink) in the handwriting of the recipient, R. Yeshaya Horwitz, appears in the margin.
R. Nachum Weidenfeld (1875-1939), a leading Torah scholar and posek in Galicia. Second son of the Hrymayliv Gaon, author of Kochav M'Yaakov. From his youth, he was renowned as a prodigy and at the age of 15, exchanged halachic correspondence with leading Torah scholars of his times who highly regarded his opinion alongside those of prominent rabbis. At the age of 21, he accepted a rabbinical position in the city of Dambrowa (Galicia) succeeding his maternal grandfather, R. Shabtai HaCohen Rappaport. In the first year of this tenure, he was challenged with a complex question regarding an agunah disputed by Galician rabbis. R. Yechezkel of Sieniawa sent this inquiry to the young Dambrowa Rabbi for him to decide, arousing great interest throughout the Galician Torah world. That same year, R. Yitzchak Shmelkish mentions R. Nachum in his book, referring to him as "the great R. Nachum and at present Rabbi of Dambrowa" (Beit Yitzchak responsa, Even HaEzer, Part 2 section 1, a responsum from 1896 to R. Yissachar Dov of Belz). In 1907, he was sent to Eretz Israel on behalf of Kollel Galicia and he regulated the fundamentals of the kollel administration. His extensive study of the laws of Eretz Israel and its special mitzvoth produced his famed pamphlets containing the laws of shemita (Sabbatical year) and his opinion regarding the polemic of "heter mechira" in the 1910 shemita year. Friendship and frequent halachic correspondence existed between R. Wiedenfeld and Galician and Polish rabbis: the author of Avnei Nezer, the Maharsham and the Maharash Engel of Radomyśl, R. Yosef Engel and R. Meir Arik, author of Chelkat Yaakov and R. Meir Dan Plotzky, author of Kli Chemdah. These illustrious Torah authorities often cite their correspondence with R. Nachum.
At the outbreak of WWII, he fled his city via Kolvsov and upon reaching the border between Galicia and Russia was caught by German border guards who reputedly threw his holy tefillin to the ground. R. Nachum, without showing any trepidation, bent down, lifted the tefillin and kissed them. The guards grabbed the tefillin from his hands and brutally threw them down again threatening him with a gun no to lift them again. R. Nachum's pure heart could not bear the desecration of his holy tefillin. He fled eastward and had a fatal stroke on the outskirts of the city of Sieniawa and was buried near the gravesite of the Sieniawa Rebbe. Not one of his large progeny, sons and daughters and their spouses or any grandchildren survived the Holocaust.
The first part of his book Chazon Nachum was printed in Biłgoraj in the summer of 1939. Most of that edition was lost and burnt during the Holocaust, however, several copies did survive. R. Nachum's younger brother, the Tchebiner Rabbi reprinted the book from one of these copies in 1951. In the introduction, R. Dov Berish Weidenfeld writes of the great stature of his elder brother, "the outstanding Torah notable". He writes in the preface to that edition that only two or three copies of the book remain and that the rest of his many manuscripts (novellae on the Babylonian and on the Yerushalmi Talmud, homilies for Festivals and for Shabbat, Aggadic novellae, Mahadura Batra of his book of responsa, etc.) were sent to his son-in-law in Kolbuszowa for safekeeping and were lost during the Holocaust. Part 2 of his book was printed in a new edition in Jerusalem in 1993 with dozens of responsa compiled from other sources. This responsum was also printed there in section 64.
The recipient R. Yeshaya HaLevi Horowitz (1883-1978, Otzar HaRabbanim 11697), born in Safed, direct descendant of Rabbi Yeshaya HaLevi Horowitz, author of the Shelah HaKadosh. From 1908, served as rabbi of the Safed Chabad community and in 1909, was appointed member of the Beit Din of his teacher and mentor the Ridbaz [Rabbi Yaakov David Wilovsky]. After undergoing great affliction during the travails of World War I, he immigrated to the USA where he served as rabbi of the New York Chabad community. He began his tenure as rabbi of Winnipeg in 1923 and filled the position of Chief Rabbi of Western Canada for many years. In his senior years he returned to the Holy Land. He authored Yavo Shilo, Pardes Haaretz and Eden Zion.
Official stationery, [4] written pages, 22.5 cm. Good-fair condition, wear and minor tears to folding marks.