Lengthy letter (4 large pages), handwritten and signed by R. Isser Zalman Meltzer, dean of the Etz Chaim yeshiva (formerly "Rabbi and yeshiva dean of Slutsk"). Jerusalem, Nisan 1939.

Addressed to his friend R. Yechezkel Abramsky, head of the London Beit Din (who had filled R. Isser Zalman's position as Rabbi of Slutsk in the 1920s). The beginning of the letter relates to the sale of Even HaAzel in England. Most of the letter is a Torah discussion in reply to R. Yechezkel Abramsky's comments on his books. On the fourth page, after the signature, R. Isser Zalman apologizes for not being able to look at Chazon Yechezkel on Pesachim, which he had lent to someone else; in a second postscript he writes that the sending of the letter was delayed and he was able to look at the reference.

R. Isser Zalman Meltzer (1870-1953), author of Even HaAzel. A leading Torah scholar of Lithuania and Jerusalem, he was born in Mir and studied in the Volozhin yeshiva under the Netziv and R. Chaim of Brisk, who esteemed him highly. After his marriage he served as the first yeshiva dean of the Knesset Yisrael yeshiva in Slabodka along with R. Moshe Mordechai Epstein, and later moved to Slutsk where he established a large yeshiva and subsequently succeeded the Ridvaz as Rabbi of the city. He immigrated to Jerusalem in 1924 and was appointed dean of the Etz Chaim yeshiva. He was also a leader of Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah, and father-in-law of R. Aharon Kotler, dean of Kletsk and Lakewood yeshivas.

The recipient,
R. Yechezkel Abramsky, author of Chazon Yechezkel (1886-1976), head rabbi of the London Beit Din, was a friend of R. Isser Zalman from before World War I, when R. Isser Zalman served as Rabbi of Slutsk and R. Abramsky served as Rabbi of Smolyan and Smilavichy. In 1923, when R. Isser Zalman was obliged to flee the Bolsheviks in Russia, he recommended R. Abramsky to serve as his successor as Rabbi in Slutsk, in which position R. Abramsky served until he was arrested and exiled to Siberia in 1930. When R. Abramsky was released in 1932, he traveled to serve as Rabbi of the Machazikei HaDat community in London, and from 1935 as head rabbi of the London Beit Din, until his retirement and immigration to Jerusalem in 1951.

[2] leaves. Official stationery. 28 cm. Written on both sides. Good-fair condition. Stains. Folding marks and tears (not affecting text).