Letter handwritten and signed by R. Avraham Duber Kahana Shapiro, Rabbi of Kovno, author of Devar Avraham. Kovno, Adar I 1938.

Addressed to his friend R. Yechezkel Abramsky, head rabbi of the London Beit Din. The letter discusses his and R. Abramsky's books, and other issues. He writes that he received Chazon Yechezkel on Chullin, and offers his thanks and blessing. He adds that he sent him the first part of his book (Devar Avraham) in its second edition, and will have his speech on family purity sent by the publisher. In response to a note by R. Abramsky about a position of his father-in-law [the Gadol of Minsk, R. Yerucham Leib Perlman, author of Or Gadol], he says he didn't have time to study it, and would address it later.

R. Avraham Duber Kahana Shapiro (1871-1943), author of Devar Avraham, an eminent rabbi in his times, son of R. Zalman Sender Kahana Shapiro and son-in-law of the Gadol of Minsk, R. Yerucham Yehudah Leib Perlman. He studied in the Volozhin yeshiva and served as Rabbi in Smilavichy and in 1914 of the major city Kovno (whereupon R. Abramsky, previously Rabbi of Smolyan, took his post in Smilavichy). His learned book Devar Avraham, the first part of which was first printed in 1906, made him famous, and the book was discussed widely even in his own generation. He was renowned as a prominent leader of Jewry and of the Agudat Rabbanim in Lithuania. In 1924 he traveled to the United States on the famous rabbinical mission along with the Kli Chemdah, R. Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook and R. Moshe Mordechai Epstein. When the Holocaust broke out, he was on a visit to Switzerland but returned to Kovno, saying that a captain does not abandon his ship during a storm. He died in the Kovno Ghetto and thousands of Jews attended his funeral.

The recipient of the letters, R. Yechezkel Abramsky, head rabbi of the London Beit Din (1886-1976), was a friend of the Devar Avraham from before World War I, when he succeeded the Devar Avraham as Rabbi of Smilavichy when the latter went to serve in Kovno. After his appointment as head rabbi of the preeminent Beit Din in London, R. Abramsky corresponded extensively with the Torah leaders of Lithuania on many issues of public affairs, including his teacher R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski and the Devar Avraham.

[1] leaf. Official stationery. 29.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains and folding marks. Minor tears to folds.