Letter by Rabbi Avraham Duber Kahana Shapiro, Rabbi of Kovno – On the Negotiations for Unification of Agudat ...

Letter by Rabbi Avraham Duber Kahana Shapiro, Rabbi of Kovno – On the Negotiations for Unification of Agudat Yisrael and Mizrachi – Kovno, 1938

Three lengthy letters (each 2 pages long), handwritten and signed by R. Avraham Duber Kahana Shapiro, Rabbi of Kovno, author of Devar Avraham. Kovno, Nisan-Iyar 1938.

Addressed to his friend R. Yechezkel Abramsky, head rabbi of the London Beit Din. The letters address various public affairs.

The later dated 13th Nisan relates mainly to the issue of shechitah. Among other things, he asks to clarify technical and halachic details about the casting pen invented by the Weinberg company of London, which streamlined the work of the large slaughterhouses. In the second letter, written just after Pesach, he continues to ask for clarifications about the device, and in a third letter dated 24th Iyar he writes that he has already decided to purchase it and asks who to address in order to purchase the device.

Additionally, in the second letter the Devar Avraham asks to clarify the expected result of negotiation between Agudat Yisrael and Mizrachi – "and whether there is hope that this time they will succeed in establishing some kind of joint work…". He goes on to recount: "…Two years ago I also delivered a speech about this concept in the Mizrachi congress, and the speech was published in the newspapers, and recently Mizrachi used it for self-promotion… I don't know if you are versed in all the twists and turns from the Zurich congress until now. This is a complete episode unknown to many…".

In the third letter, the Devar Avraham tells of the progressing negotiations for a joint work agreement between Agudat Yisrael and Mizrachi: "Meanwhile I have already received an official report of the 'agreement', as well as a letter from R. Chaim Ozer…", and he offers his opinion on the draft agreement: "My opinion is that they should hurry to unite to the furthest extent possible. I say this not only… theoretically, but mainly practically: What I will be forced to demand in the future, I must preemptively demand when offered in the present…".

R. Avraham Duber Kahana Shapiro (1871-1943), author of Devar Avraham, an eminent rabbi in his times, son of R. Zalman Sender Kahana Shapiro and son-in-law of the Gadol of Minsk, R. Yerucham Yehudah Leib Perlman. He studied in the Volozhin yeshiva and served as Rabbi in Smilavichy and in 1914 of the major city Kovno (whereupon R. Abramsky, previously Rabbi of Smolyan, took his post in Smilavichy). His learned book Devar Avraham, the first part of which was first printed in 1906, made him famous, and the book was discussed widely even in his own generation. He was renowned as a prominent leader of Jewry and of the Agudat Rabbanim in Lithuania. In 1924 he traveled to the United States on the famous rabbinical mission along with the Kli Chemdah, R. Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook and R. Moshe Mordechai Epstein. When the Holocaust broke out, he was on a visit to Switzerland but returned to Kovno, saying that a captain does not abandon his ship during a storm. He died in the Kovno Ghetto and thousands of Jews attended his funeral.

The recipient of the letters, R. Yechezkel Abramsky, head rabbi of the London Beit Din (1886-1976), was a friend of the Devar Avraham from before World War I, when he succeeded the Devar Avraham as Rabbi of Smilavichy when the latter went to serve in Kovno. After his appointment as head rabbi of the preeminent Beit Din in London, R. Abramsky was highly active in the area of kosher shechitah in London. At the time, he was also highly involved in the question of stunning of animals before slaughter, along with his teacher R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski of Vilna (see: Kedem catalogue, Auction 98, Lot 207). He likewise carried out missions for his teacher R. Chaim Ozer of Vilna on many issues, including the Council of Yeshivas and various activities for the rabbis of Europe. As can be seen from the present letters, R. Abramsky's opinion was also conclusive on the issues of Agudat Yisrael, and the Devar Avraham apparently tried to work out through his mediation some kind of union between Mizrachi and Agudat Yisrael – a union that never materialized.

[3] letters on official stationery, written on both sides. 29.5 cm. Varying condition, good to good-fair. Stains. Folding marks and tears.