Bundle of 25 letters, sent to Telz Yeshiva and to its head, Rabbi Eliezer Gordon, by yeshiva alumni who were requested to send stories and memoirs for a book named Toldot HaYeshiva to be published about the Telz Yeshiva. 1909-1910.
At the end of the summer of 1909, the Telz Yeshiva published notices in Jewish newspapers (Hed HaZeman, Unzer Leben, etc.), regarding the publishing of the book Toldot HaYeshiva about the history of the Telz Yeshiva and wth a list of its alumni, their addresses and their occupation. The notices requested the alumni to send accounts of their lives: Their names, the years they studied in the yeshiva, their city of origin [at that time, most of the boys were dubbed by the name of their city and not by their surname], their present address and occupation and their spiritual and material state. [The book was never published due to the sudden death of Rabbi Gordon in England].
This collection of letters contains valuable data which sheds light on the history of the Telz Yeshiva which was the Torah center of Lithuania, descriptions of life in the yeshiva and about the lives of its alumni. Some even relate various episodes of yeshiva life and of their personal life. Also recounted are interesting facts of the meticulous rules for accepting students and of yeshiva life in those times. Hearty descriptions of diligence and in-depth study, scholarly logic and pilpul learned in the yeshiva. Many write that the time they studied in the yeshiva lit the path they tread their entire lives. The letters also contain descriptions of crises some of the students experienced during their yeshiva years, such as the polemic surrounding the musar movement, teachers who left the yeshiva, i.e. Rabbi Yosef Bloch who left to accept the position of Rabbi of Šeduva and Rabbi Shimon Shkop who left two years later to the rabbinate of Malech and Brańsk.
25 letters and postcards, size and condition vary. General condition - good to good-fair.

Autograph letter signed by Rabbi Yechezkel Berstein. Vabalninkas (Lithuania), 1913.
Sent to Rabbi Shmuel Gordon of the Telz Yeshiva, with a request to purchase the book Teshuvot Rabbi Eliezer authored by his father, Rabbi Eliezer Gordon, for the beit midrash in the city.
Rabbi Yechezkel Berstein (1889-perished in the Holocaust in Cheshvan 1941), a foremost student of the Knesset Yisrael Yeshiva in Slobodka and friend of Rabbi Reuven Grozovsky and Rabbi Daniel Movshovitz who studied at the Slobodka Yeshiva at the same time. In 1913, he married and settled in Vabalninkas, the birthplace of his great disciple Elazar Menachem Shach [author of Avi Ezri], who considered himself a "talmid muvhak" of Rabbi Yechezkel and was very close to him. The latter moved to study at the Slobodka Kollel and during World War I, exiled with the yeshiva to Kremenchuk. On their return to Slobodka, the young man Yitzchak Hutner of Warsaw [author of Pachad Yitzchak] became his close disciple.
In 1923, the Saba of Slobodka together with his son Rabbi Moshe Finkel established the Or Yisrael Yeshiva in Slobodka [which was an "intermediate yeshiva" absorbing students who graduated from Yeshivot Ketanot and after studying three years in an "intermediate yeshiva" they progressed to a yeshiva gedolah]. Rabbi Yechezkel was appointed teacher but later became the sole head of the yeshiva. His scholarly work Divrei Yechezkel printed in Kėdainiai (Keidan) in 1935 reputed him throughout the Torah world. This book was printed in many editions and became one of the basic books of yeshiva in-depth Torah study.
Postcard, 14 cm. Good condition.

Autograph letter signed by Rabbi Baruch Dov Leibovitz, head of the Kamenets Yeshiva. Kamenets (Kamyanyets), 1936.
Letter of appointment for fundraising for the yeshiva. Sent to Rabbi Koppel Kahana Av Beit Din of Białowieża: "…And I hereby grant the honored Torah scholar the power and entitlement to deal in the matters of the yeshiva, and his authority should be like mine, to travel to whomever he deems correct…to reinforce our holy yeshiva whose very existence is at risk".
Rabbi Baruch Dov (Ber) Leibowitz (1864-1940), a leading disciple of Rabbi Chaim of Brisk at the Volozhin Yeshiva, succeeded his father in law, Rabbi Zimmerman in the Halusk rabbinate in which he established a yeshiva. After 13 years, he was asked to serve as Rosh Yeshiva of Knesset Beit Yitzchak in Slobodka which eventually moved to Vilna and later to Kamenets. He became one of the most illustrious Torah teachers of his generation. Author of Birkat Shmuel on Talmudical treatises, his Torah teachings became a foundation for deep yeshiva Talmudic study.
The recipient: Rabbi Koppel Kahana (1895-1978), Av Beit Din of Puszcza Białowieska (Poland) and of Rozanai. Son of Rabbi Shlomo David Kahana, rabbi in Warsaw. During the Holocaust, he reached England and became a prominent rabbi in London. He authored Birkat Cohen, Nachalat Cohen, The Case for Jewish Civil Law in The State Of Israel, etc.
Official stationery, 28.5 cm. Approximately 14 written lines. Fair condition, wear. Tears to folding marks.

Long interesting autograph letter signed by Rabbi Eliezer Rabinowitz Av Beit Din of Minsk. Minsk, 1915.
Sent to Rabbi Yosef Av Beit Din of Svislach, responding to a proposal of a match suggested by the rabbi for Rabbi Eliezer's daughter. Includes many details concerning this matter. At the beginning, he expresses his "deep gratitude for the great trouble you undertook in doing chessed physically and monetarily concerning my matter, you did much and spoke little…".
Rabbi Eliezer Rabinowitz (1859-1924), a leading Torah scholar of his times, outstanding prodigy, famous for his exceptional cleverness. Many complex Torah issues were referred to him and he participated in the rabbinical conventions in St. Petersburg at which public issues were discussed. At the time he studied in Slutzk from the author of Beit HaLevi and later in the Volozhin Yeshiva he was dubbed the "Gaon of Kiev". Son-in-law of Rabbi Yerucham Leib "The Great Rabbi of Minsk", author of Or Gadol, he succeeded him in the Minsk rabbinate. He became one of the most prominent Lithuanian rabbis and also earned the title of the "Great Rabbi of Minsk". After the communist revolution began in 1917, the rabbi was jailed in a Russian prison and eventually released, but this did not dampen his spirit and he continued leading his community as before, in spite of the persecution by the governing rulers. The remnants of his Torah novellae were covertly smuggled from Russia and printed in the book Mishnat Eliezer (Jerusalem, 1962). [See: HaGadol M'Minsk, pp. 88-91; Rabboteinu SheBagola, Vol. 1, pp. 96-98].
Approximately 3 written pages. 20.5 cm. 47 handwritten lines. Good-fair condition. Wear to paper folds. On the second leaf is a tear to the fold with adhesive tape marks.