"The Illness of Maran Shlit”a": A Letter from Brisk of Lithuania to Jerusalem. Brisk, 1912

"The Illness of Maran Shlit”a": A Letter from Brisk of Lithuania to Jerusalem. Brisk, 1912

A historically significant letter sent from Brisk of Lithuania to the administrators of Kollel Horodno in Jerusalem. Brisk, 1912.

The letter discusses the charitable funds collected in Brisk for the members of Kollel Horodno residing in the Holy Land. It contains numerous names, including those of donors in Lithuania, needy individuals in Jerusalem, and the names of the sick to be mentioned in prayers at the holy sites.

A particular passage in the letter addresses the illness of Maran HaGaon Rav Chaim of Brisk:

"Regarding the illness of Maran Shlit”a... he traveled to Otwock, but there he fell ill once again, and his sickness has persisted until now. Therefore, we shall not cease to pray to the Almighty, the Healer of the sick, that He may soon grant him a complete recovery from Heaven, restore his health, and return him to his former strength."

Approximately six years after the date of the letter, in 1918, Maran HaGaon Rav Chaim of Brisk passed away in the spa town of Otwock. He was later transferred for burial in the Jewish cemetery in Warsaw, in the Ohel of his wife’s grandfather, the Netziv of Volozhin.

HaGaon Rav Shmuel Auerbach zt”l would remark regarding the contemporary custom of individuals, and even delegations of rabbis, traveling from the Land of Israel to pray at the gravesites of tzaddikim in Poland and Lithuania: that the original custom was the exact opposite! [As can be seen from the letter before us], Jews from the Diaspora—including the very same great sages whose graves are visited today—used to send donations to the Land of Israel, so that the residents of the Holy Land would pray on their behalf at the sacred sites.

Squared paper. [3] written pages. 21x13 cm per page.

Condition: Good. Tears at the folds and edges, with no damage or loss of text.