Two Letters from Rabbi Reuven Grozovsky – On the Exile of the Kamenets Yeshiva During the Holocaust – Raseiniai ...

Two Letters from Rabbi Reuven Grozovsky – On the Exile of the Kamenets Yeshiva During the Holocaust – Raseiniai, Adar 1940 – "The Yeshiva is Studying with Great Diligence and in Great Depth…"

Two letters handwritten and signed by R. Reuven Grozovsky, a dean of the Kamenets yeshiva (which fled to Vilna during the war; after the passing of R. Baruch Ber, the yeshiva relocated to Raseiniai, Lithuania). Raseiniai (Lithuania), Adar II 1940.

Both letters were partly typewritten and partly handwritten and signed by R. Reuven Grozovsky. The letters were addressed to his relative R. Yechezkel Abramsky, head rabbi of the London Beit Din, who worked actively to support the yeshivas and rabbis exiled to independent Lithuania at the outbreak of World War II (at the beginning of the Holocaust, many yeshivas fled Poland, which had been occupied and partitioned by the Germans and Russians, for Vilna and other cities in independent Lithuania). The Kamenets yeshiva fled at that time to Vilna together with the yeshiva dean R. Baruch Ber Leibowitz. After the passing of the yeshiva dean in Vilna on 5th Kislev (December 17) 1939, the yeshiva began to be directed by his son-in-law, R. Reuven, together with his brothers-in-law R. Moshe Bernstein and R. Yaakov Moshe Leibowitz and the mashgiach R. Naftali Ze'ev HaKohen Leibowitz (brother-in-law of R. Baruch Ber, son-in-law of R. Avraham Yitzchak Zimmerman, Rabbi of Kremenchuk). The yeshiva later relocated to Raseiniai, at the instruction of the authorities to spread the refugees throughout Lithuania. After the Russian occupation of Lithuania, the yeshiva deans escaped and reached the United States and Eretz Israel. Some yeshiva students managed to flee with them or with the Mir yeshiva to Japan and Shanghai, while the others were massacred after the German conquest of Lithuania in summer 1941.

The first letter, dated 1st Adar II (on the official stationery of the yeshiva from its Kamenets period), describes the condition of the yeshiva and their devotion to Torah even during the tempestuous time of war: "… Now since 'the ark of G-d has been taken' and our great rabbi, my father-in-law and teacher, has passed away, his great spirit and soul is always present in our holy yeshiva, and his deep, wondrous Torah novellae are heard daily from the mouths of his best students who know and heard his teachings. May his merit always stand for us and all of Israel". R. Reuven Grozovsky goes on to add a handwritten request to greet them and their entire family "on behalf of my mother-in-law the Rebbetzin [Rebbetzin Abramsky's cousin] and all of our family who all moved here, and thank G-d we are all alive and well. And our yeshiva has also retained its greatness and glory, and it has not lost its spirit after everything that has befallen it recently". R. Reuven writes of the printing of Birkat Shmuel: "We also intend to reprint the book of my teacher and father-in-law on three tractates, which has already been typeset there, but the matrices have been left there, and may G-d grant us success to fulfill his teachings at every moment, and may we merit to spread Torah in peace, and may we see the redemption of Israel soon in our days…". R. Reuven apologizes for typewriting part of the letter: "Forgive me for not writing the entire letter by hand, for my hand is shaky and writing is difficult for me…".

In the second letter, dated 10th Adar II (on a rare official stationery of the yeshiva, mentioning that the yeshiva is "now in Raseiniai, Lithuania"), he writes: "…You have surely already received my previous letter on the relocation of the yeshiva to Raseiniai, and on the spiritual reasons for this relocation, may G-d protect us from every distress and may we merit to spread Torah in peace and quiet, and may we soon see the coming forth of the light and the general salvation, 'and children will return to their boundary'…". R. Reuven thanks R. Abramsky for assisting the yeshiva, "which is now, thank G-d, in its previous greatness and glory, and the Torah voice of our yeshiva is now sounded in Raseiniai as it was previously in Kamenets…". R. Reuven adds in his handwriting that "my mother-in-law and our entire family are doing well, and thank G-d the yeshiva is studying with great diligence and in great depth, also because my father-in-law's son R. Yaakov Moshe repeats the lectures of my father-in-law every week, and the yeshiva students study this in great depth and hone each other in halachah…".

R. Reuven Grozovsky (1886-1958), son of R. Shimshon Grozovsky, rabbi in Minsk and eminent son-in-law of R. Baruch Ber Leibowitz, dean of the Kamenets yeshiva (his mother-in-law was the daughter of R. Avraham Yitzchak Zimmerman, Rabbi of Kremenchuk and brother-in-law of R. Yisrael Yitzchak Yerushalimsky Rabbi of Ihumen]. In his youth he was one of the foremost disciples of the Alter of Slabodka. An outstanding Torah scholar, leading yeshiva dean in Lithuania and in the United States. Assisted his illustrious father-in-law in managing the Kamenets yeshiva. During the Holocaust, he escaped to independent Vilna and Lithuania along with the Kamenets yeshiva and his father-in-law R. Baruch Ber, and eventually reached the United States, where he headed Beis Medrash Elyon of the Torah Vodaath yeshiva and was one of the heads of Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah in the United States. Known for his articles sharply opposing nationalism and Zionism, printed in Beayot HaZman. His profound discourses were printed in the four-part Chidushei Rabbi Reuven and in other books featuring his Torah teachings.

2 leaves. Official stationery. 30 cm. Good-fair condition. Light stains. Wear and folding marks. Minor tears.