Collection of [6] Historic Letters Handwritten by the Rosh Yeshivah of Telz, the Gaon Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Katz

Collection of [6] Historic Letters Handwritten by the Rosh Yeshivah of Telz, the Gaon Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Katz

Collection of [6] historic letters, large and lengthy, covering [12] pages. Entirely handwritten and signed by the gaon Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Katz, mashgiach of the Telz yeshivah in Lithuania and founder and rosh yeshivah of Telz in the United States after the Holocaust. New York-Cleveland, 1941-1962.

These historic and shocking letters were written 1941-1962, and they tell the story of the destruction of the glorious Telz yeshivah in Lithuania, together with the destruction of the Jewish people as a whole during the terrible Holocaust in Europe. But no less so do they tell the miraculous story of the resurrection of the yeshivah and its resurgence on American soil.

The first letters are from 1941, in the midst of the Holocaust. The letters show the ignorance and petrifying helplessness of the gaon Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Katz regarding the fate of his students and that of his entire family. Even the letterheads still bear only Rabbi Katz's name accompanied by his residential address in New York, without any hint of the re-establishment of the yeshivah on American soil. The last letters, sent after the terrible news arrived of the yeshivah's destruction and that of its rabbis and students and the murder of Rabbi Katz's wife and all his children - already bear logo of the yeshivah in America and were sent from its new home in Cleveland, Ohio.

The content of the letters has not been examined in detail; it may be possible to learn the precise date when the Telz yeshivah was established in the United States. It is hard to imagine, but this historic topic is debated and remains unresolved. The differences of opinion are not minor, as they range from 1940/1 according to the earlier opinions, through ten years later, 1950.

In 1940, about a year before the Germans entered Telz, Rabbis Eliyahu Meir Bloch and Chaim Mordechai Katz (son-in-law of R' Yosef Yehudah Bloch) traveled to the United States. There, with the help of Rabbi Yisrael Porat, rabbi of Cleveland, they initiated the establishment of a subsidiary of the Telz yeshivah. There are several versions as to when this yeshivah was established. Rabbi Mordechai Gifter, who was later its rosh yeshivah, writes in an essay that the yeshivah there was opened on 7 Cheshvan / October 18th, 1950, the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yosef Yehudah Leib Bloch. Another source claims that the yeshivah started at the Feigenbaum family's home in 1940/1.

Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a short overview of the Telz yeshivah and a brief biography of the gaon Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Katz.

A total of [6] letters written on both sides. Official stationery. Various sizes.

Overall very fine condition. Fold marks. Minimal aging stains.