Letter of Rabbi Shimon Yehudah Shkop, Dean of Grodno Yeshiva – Nisan, 1933 – Blessings for the Pesach Holiday and ...

Letter of Rabbi Shimon Yehudah Shkop, Dean of Grodno Yeshiva – Nisan, 1933 – Blessings for the Pesach Holiday and Request to Rescue the Yeshiva During an International Financial Crisis – "For One Who Lives Has Hope – And G-d Has Salvation…"

Lengthy letter handwritten, signed and stamped by R. Shimon Yehudah HaKohen Shkop, dean of the Shaar HaTorah yeshiva in Grodno. 14th Nisan 1933.

Addressed to R. Yechezkel Abramsky, who served at the time as rabbi of the Machazikei HaDat yeshiva in London, with a request for various kinds of help for the yeshiva, which was in a terrible financial condition, "which is about to fall during the terrible crisis which is present in all countries now… for who knows how great is the value of supporting the yeshiva at a time such as this so that it not close, which beyond the great value of present subsistence, by continuing to exist there is hope for it yet to return to its honor and glory; for one who lives has hope – and G-d has salvation…".

In the conclusion of the letter, R. Shimon HaKohen Shkop gives a priestly holiday blessing: "I hereby seek your welfare with much love and esteem. Hoping for salvation, blessing him with the three-fold blessing [the priestly blessing] for a kosher and happy holiday, Shimon Yehudah HaKohen Shkop".

R. Shimon Yehudah HaKohen Shkop (1860-1939) a leading Torah scholar and transmitter of the Torah in Lithuanian yeshivas, was a disciple of R. Chaim Soloveitchik in the Volozhin yeshiva, who instructed him in his intricate and profound methodology of Torah study. At the age of 24, he was appointed dean of the Telshe yeshiva (founded by his uncle R. Eliezer Gordon), where he transmitted his innovative method of logical study – an approach dominating the entire Torah world to this day. One of his foremost disciples from that period was R. Elchanan Wasserman. He served as Rabbi of Brańsk and Malech. In 1920, he was called to head the Shaar HaTorah yeshiva in Grodno and served as the Rabbi of the Vorstadt suburb of Grodno. His works include: Shaarei Yosher, Maarechet HaKinyanim and Chiddushei R. Shimon Yehudah HaKohen. These books serve to this day as guides to in-depth yeshiva learning.

1 leaf, official stationery. 27 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Wear and tears to margins, folding marks.