Official document with a notary's authorization, with the details of the passport of R. Elchanan Wasserman and with his photograph. Vilna, December 1940. Lithuanian.
Leaf (2 pages), typewritten, with handwritten additions, signatures and stamps. Evidently, used as a temporary or substitute passport.
Passport details appear on the first page: name, place of birth, color of eyes and more. A notary's authorization appears at the bottom of the page. On the second page is an authorization signed by two "Polish citizens" who confirm that they know R. Elchanan and that he was born in 1875 and at present resides in Semeliškės and that his photograph is attached to the document. This authorization is signed by Salomon Gutvirth and Srul-Icchok Ploncak/Placzak [R. Yisrael Plonchak was a close disciple of R. Elchanan, later Rabbi in Haifa]. On the second part of the page is another official authorization with a notary's signature and stamps of the Vilna District Court.
A passport photograph of R. Elchanan is pasted on the first page, stamped with two official stamps of the Vilna District Court. This is an unknown photograph of R. Elchanan and his last known photograph before he was murdered in sanctification of G-d's Name.
Rabbi Elchanan (Elchonon) Wasserman (1875-1941), disciple of R. Shimon Shkop in the Telz Yeshiva and primary disciple of the Chafetz Chaim, served as lecturer and head of the Brisk Yeshiva and held other positions as well. After World War I, he established the Ohel Torah Yeshiva in the city of Baranovich and was one of the foremost Torah giants and head of yeshivot in Lithuania. Served as emissary of the Chafetz Chaim and of R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski in the Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah of Agudat Yisrael. R. Elchanan wrote many articles of Torah philosophy which later formed his book Ikvete D'Meshicha in which he expressed the Torah outlook of his teacher, the Chafetz Chaim, on Zionist nationalism and on the spiritual state of the Jewish people. His Torah teachings and discourses were published in the books Kovetz Shi'urim, Kovetz He'arot, Kovetz Inyanim, Kovetz Igrot HaGra", etc. His study approach and books are still used today as basic methods of deep yeshiva study throughout the Torah world. With the outbreak of WWII, he escaped with his yeshiva from Baranovich to Vilna which became a refuge for thousands of yeshiva students and rabbinic families during the short period of its role as the capital city of independent Lithuania. Several weeks later (at the beginning of 1940), he relocated with his yeshiva to Trakai, adjacent to Vilna and following the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, he moved his yeshiva to Semeliškės. A short while before the German invasion of Lithuania, he moved to Kaunas. In the Kaunas Ghetto, he learned Torah with incredible devotion and delivered discourses to his disciples on the laws of Kiddush Hashem (sanctification of G-d's Name) and taught his sons the version of the blessing to recite before sacrificing their lives in sanctification of G-d's Name. On the 11th of Tamuz 1941, he and his disciples and other rabbis were led to the Seventh Fort of Kaunas Fortress and were murdered in sanctification of G-d's Name. During the last months of his life, at the time he was in Trakai and in Semeliškės, R. Elchanan attempted to find a way to escape [see enclosed material], but although he had affidavits to immigrate to Eretz Israel, the Russians prevented him from departing Lithuania because he was a Latvian citizen and at that time Latvia has already been annexed to the USSR. Apparently, this document which was issued during his stay in Semeliškės was part of R. Elchanan's last-minute efforts to leave Lithuania.
Folded leaf (two pages). 29 cm. Fair-good condition. Folding marks and tears. File holes.