Letter of the Rebbe Rayatz of Lubavitch – Delivery of Flour and Matzah to Jews in Soviet Russia – Riga, 1932 – ...

Letter of the Rebbe Rayatz of Lubavitch – Delivery of Flour and Matzah to Jews in Soviet Russia – Riga, 1932 – Addressed to Rabbi Yechezkel Abramsky, Head Rabbi of London Beit Din, Author of Chazon Yechezkel

Lengthy letter (2 leaves) from R. Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, the Rebbe Rayatz of Lubavitch. Riga, 23rd Adar II, 1932.

Typewritten on the Rebbe Rayatz's official stationery, with his signature – "Yosef Yitzchak"; with added words and corrections in his handwriting.

Addressed to R. Yechezkel Abramsky, who had left Soviet Russia a few months earlier and settled in London [his wife and two young children received an exit permit several months later, near the time the present letter was received; his two elder sons managed to leave only five years later]. At the beginning of the letter, the Rayatz blesses him: "…I was delighted to hear of your good health and that, thank G-d, your family members attained a permit to leave [Russia]; may G-d grant them success for everything to go smoothly, and may G-d protect your honorable sons, Mr. Moshe and Mr. Yaakov David, who are temporarily left in their place; may G-d help them to soon attain permits to come to you successfully".

The continuation and main part of the letter deals with the considerable efforts to send packages of flour and matzah for Pesach to the Jews of the USSR who were left behind the Iron Curtain [In the years following his departure from Russia, the Rebbe Rayatz initiated a complex international operation to raise funds and attain permits to send packages of shmura flour and matzot to the Jews of Soviet Russia. He was assisted by several leaders of the generation, including the Chafetz Chaim, R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky in Poland, R. Meir Hildesheimer in Berlin, R. Kook and R. Sonnenfeld in Eretz Israel, R. Yechezkel Abramsky in England and others. Letters were dispatched to rabbis worldwide, and various announcements were made and fundraisers were held. The efforts were centered in Riga, Latvia, where the Rebbe Rayatz resided, where the conditions were easier to get permits from the Russian authorities and send food packages. The sending of food packages to Russia was done by calling for individuals worldwide to send flour and matzah packages addressed to their relatives and to particular addresses sent to them by the committee in Riga].

In the present letter, the Rayatz briefs R. Abramsky on attaining shmura flour for the matzot, filling out forms for home addresses in Russia, and the way to send and raise funds: "Regarding the packages, after all the permits, the matter of store-bought [non-shmura] flour weighs on me. Thank G-d, I was able to send some hundreds of packages of flour for Pesach, and I hereby send you 270 addresses, and I ask you to see to it that they are filled out and that the packages are sent to them… The best way to send is through Latvia, as I saw that our friend R. Chaim Ozer sent many packages through Latvia, and from other places including Poland it was decided to send packages through Latvia… If you could act to have the Relief send flour for Pesach, in order to speed the matter I ask you to please inform me by telegram that you receive the amount that is on your account…". At the end of the letter, the Rebbe Rayatz adds in his handwriting: "Respecting him and blessing him".

A partial draft of the letter is printed in the Rebbe Rayatz's Igrot Kodesh (XI, letter 4215); the present letter is the original, in full, with many additions and changes compared with the printed version.

The recipient, R. Yechezkel Abramsky, author of Chazon Yechezkel (1886-1976), head rabbi of the London Beit Din and a leader of Torah Judaism in Eretz Israel. President of the Council of Yeshivas, a director of the Chinuch Atzma'i system, member of the Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah and a dean of the Slabodka yeshiva in Bnei Brak. In 1911 he served for a brief period as dean of the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva in Lubavitch, and was later appointed Rabbi of Smolyan with the assistance of the Rebbe Rashab. After the Soviet revolution he served as Rabbi of Slutsk (from 1923), where he joined the Rebbe Rayatz in dealing with public matters, and he was a member of the Committee of Rabbis which supported Torah schools, mikvaot and rabbis in Russia. During this period he was referred to by the code names Yemin Hashem Romemah (the beginning of the verse recited after the Amidah prayer for the name Yechezkel) and Tosefta (for his work Chazon Yechezkel on the Tosefta). At the end of 1930 he was imprisoned by the Soviets for his dedicated activity in support of Judaism; there he became acquainted with R. Refael Cohen. After leaving Russia he arrived in England in 1932, where he was appointed head of the London Batei Din until his 1951 retirement and immigration to Eretz Israel. Throughout that period he was in close relations and cooperation with the Rebbe Rayatz (and he was active alongside him and R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky of Vilna in the international effort to send food packages for holidays to Jews in Soviet Russia). He was also later involved with the Rebbe Rayatz's son-in-law, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, in public affairs. After his immigration to Eretz Israel he would go along with his friend R. Shlomo Yosef Zevin to deliver a lecture in the Chabad Tomchei Temimim yeshiva in Lod (see: Melech BeYofyo, Jerusalem 2004, p. 670; based on Hamodia newspaper, Jerusalem, 16th Elul 1951).

[2] leaves, official stationery. 29.5 cm. Good condition. Folding marks and creases. Stains and light wear. Small marginal tears.