Auction 74 - Judaica - Books, Manuscripts, Rabbinical Letters, Ceremonial Art
Letter Handwritten and Signed by Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski – Unpublished Halachic Responsum Regarding Assimilated Jews
Opening: $1,000
Sold for: $2,500
Including buyer's premium
Letter handwritten and signed by R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski. Vilna, Kislev 1926.
Halachic responsum on the laws of burial applying to assimilated Jews, in response to the question of whether one is allowed to provide Jewish burial for a Jew who married a gentile or requested to be cremated. R. Chaim Ozer also discusses whether one can circumcise a child whose father is Jewish and mother is not, and he writes: "It is obvious that he is non-Jewish, and if one wishes to circumcise him, one recites the blessing for the circumcision of a convert, and it does not override Shabbat…".
This letter is not printed in Responsa Achiezer, nor in the series of books of the letters of R. Chaim Ozer.
R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski (1863-1940) was a foremost rabbi of his generation and leader of the entire European Jewry. He was the son of R. David Shlomo Grodzinski Rabbi of Iwye. Renowned from his childhood for his exceptional brilliance, he entered the Volozhin yeshiva at the young age of 11, and became a disciple of R. Chaim of Brisk. At the age of 24, he was appointed rabbi and posek in Vilna, in place of his father-in-law R. Eliyahu Eliezer Grodnansky posek in Vilna, son-in-law of R. Yisrael Salanter. He assumed the yoke of public leadership from a young age, and for close to fifty years, his opinion was conclusive on all communal matters which arose throughout the Diaspora.
[1] leaf, official stationery (19 autograph lines). 25 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Minor tears and wear to folds.
Halachic responsum on the laws of burial applying to assimilated Jews, in response to the question of whether one is allowed to provide Jewish burial for a Jew who married a gentile or requested to be cremated. R. Chaim Ozer also discusses whether one can circumcise a child whose father is Jewish and mother is not, and he writes: "It is obvious that he is non-Jewish, and if one wishes to circumcise him, one recites the blessing for the circumcision of a convert, and it does not override Shabbat…".
This letter is not printed in Responsa Achiezer, nor in the series of books of the letters of R. Chaim Ozer.
R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski (1863-1940) was a foremost rabbi of his generation and leader of the entire European Jewry. He was the son of R. David Shlomo Grodzinski Rabbi of Iwye. Renowned from his childhood for his exceptional brilliance, he entered the Volozhin yeshiva at the young age of 11, and became a disciple of R. Chaim of Brisk. At the age of 24, he was appointed rabbi and posek in Vilna, in place of his father-in-law R. Eliyahu Eliezer Grodnansky posek in Vilna, son-in-law of R. Yisrael Salanter. He assumed the yoke of public leadership from a young age, and for close to fifty years, his opinion was conclusive on all communal matters which arose throughout the Diaspora.
[1] leaf, official stationery (19 autograph lines). 25 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Minor tears and wear to folds.
Rabbinical Letters
Rabbinical Letters