Itmachi Kamiya: Touching Letter from the Gedolei HaDorot, the Gaon Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, in the Name of the Steipler

Itmachi Kamiya: Touching Letter from the Gedolei HaDorot, the Gaon Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, in the Name of the Steipler

"My father blesses [you] that Hashem send you complete healing soon - a total recovery"!! (Blessing from the gaon Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky in the name of the Steipler)

Touching medical letter unlike any other, entirely [approximately 80 words] handwritten by the gadol hador, the Sar HaTorah, the gaon Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, in the name of his sacred father, the gaon Yisrael, Rabbi Ya'akov Yisrael Kanievsky - the Steipler. Bnei Brak, 1977.

The letter was sent to 'My friend, shlit"a' [Rabbi Simchah Waldenberg], in Reb Chaim's youth, while his father, the Steipler, was still alive. Unlike in his later years, when he would write very briefly, and his letters were characterized by their brevity to the extent that aside from the addressee, almost no one could understand them, in this rare letter, likely due to the prominence of the recipient and their mutual friendship, Reb Chaim is much more expansive.

Aside from the detailed blessings for healing handwritten by the gadol hador, the Sar HaTorah, the gaon Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, in the name of his sacred father, the gaon Yisrael, Rabbi Ya'akov Yisrael Kanievsky - the Steipler, these Lithuanian wonder-workers active in the previous two generations, whose blessings never went unfulfilled, father and son, would wave their hands with medical wisdom and the ways of antibiotics, with clear instructions, which pills to take, when to stop, and only after concluding taking the medicine would the antibiotics start to work!

Manuscripts by gedolei hadorot - not only those written by Chassidim - have been used as tried-and-true amulets. All their manuscripts, not only blessings. One such story appears in Chut HaMeshulash about the amulet given by the gaon Rabbi Akiva Eiger - without sacred Names - just the inscription "in the merit of the insight I wrote in Tosafot, in Sukkah, with respect to the Clouds of Glory, may he recover." This is the case even in the generation preceding the previous generation, by the sacred Rabbi Mordcheleh of Oshmina, an old story. All the more so, in this letter, with explicit blessings from the mouth and from the pen of two leading wonder-workers, and the entire letter is occupied with healing.

There is also historic importance to this letter, as it is known that the Steipler was a tremendous expert on medicine - not that he studied in in any formal setting or even from books - it's that "Hashem's secrets are known to those who revere him" and that he studied Torah day and night, and learned natural sciences as needed. These matters are known by word of mouth. Here is rare evidence of this, in which he gives a "prescription" - literally, in the name of his father, who wrote in a Talmudic style: "Take antibiotics for a few days, then stop. Most of the healing effect will occur after stopping the antibiotic, as such he should stop it. This is all with respect to infection, but for an infection that is not shoshanah (cellulitis), I don't know how a person should conduct himself, it is likely that one should stop after several days.

Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for brief biographies of Rabbi Yisrael Ya'akov Kanievsky and the gaon Rabbi Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim Kanievsky.

[1] postal postcard, 14 cm.

Very fine condition.