Wedding certificate signed by the Admor Beis Yisrael of Gur, for the marriage of his chassid Rabbi Yaakov Kozlik.

Wedding certificate signed by the Admor Beis Yisrael of Gur, for the marriage of his chassid Rabbi Yaakov Kozlik.

Official letterhead of the “Eda Charedit Prushim v’Chassidim, Va’ad HaIr of the Ashkenazi community of Jerusalem’, bearing a wedding certificate of 1946, signed by the mesader kiddushin: “Yisrael Alter”—the Admor Beis Yisrael of Gur. The groom listed is “Yaakov ben Yosef Kozlik”, a well-known Gur chassid, and the bride is the daughter of Rabbi Shlomo Zvi Atik; both are from well-known, meyuchas families. One of the witnesses is “Rabbi Shlomo Tilgater” (Rabbi Shlomo Telingtor, an important Boyan chassid). 24x21cm. Folding creases, light stains in the margins, overall good condition.

Admor Rabbi Yisrael Alter, the Beis Yisrael of Gur (1895-1977) was the son of the Admor the Imrei Emes of Gur. He was the 5th Admor of the Gur dynasty and was responsible for restoring the group after the Shoah. He was a leading public figure in the Charedi world of Israel. He is known by the name of his writings which were published after his death, the Beis Yisrael. In addition to his role as rabbi and spiritual leader of Gur, he also served as head of the Council of Torah Sages. Because of this role he had great influence over the direction of Agudas Yisrael, which was founded by his father. He was known as holy and pure, charif, generous, and a miracle worker, one of the greatest Admorim in the world.

Rabbi Shlomo Telingtor was a Boyan chassid, a printer of works by Admorim of Ruzhin after the Shoah. He was the father-in-law of the gaon Rabbi Shmuel Zenovil Weintraub, Rosh Yeshivat Beit-Yosef Novhardok in Pinsk and Rabbi of Karlin.

The shidduch is the fruit of well-known families. Rabbi Yosef Kozlik, the groom’s father, learned under the Admor Rabbi Shlomo of Zovehil and even had a chavruta with the Admor’s son, Rabbi Gedalya Moshe of Zoviel. He was known as a chassid of Boyan and studied under additional tzaddikim. His son, the groom, was close to the Beis Yisrael of Gur and his sons-in-law include Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum of Satmar in Jerusalem and Rabbi Meir Shalom Rabinowitz the Admor of Kalshin. The bride, Sarah bat Rabbi Shlomo Atik, was famous for her righteousness. An interesting fact: the pair came one time to the Cheviner Rabbe for a din torah, when Rabbi Yankel worked then in the administration of the Chinuch Atzma’i. His wife argued that it was not suitable for him to work in an office when next door were women. The Cheviner Rabbi said that as long as he could not find a suitable alternative he could continue to work there. So his wife took upon herself the household’s parnasa so that he would not have to work there, and later Rabbi Yankele managed to get a job working from home in the making of tzitzit.