Letter signed by Rabbis Yehezkel Sarna, Rabbi Elazar Yehuda Finkel, and Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin about the “Chinuch ...

Letter signed by Rabbis Yehezkel Sarna, Rabbi Elazar Yehuda Finkel, and Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin about the “Chinuch HaAtzma’i” program. Iyar 1957.

Letter typewritten on official letterhead of the “Merkaz Chinuch HaAtzma’I”, from the 15th of Iyar 1957, addressed to the “heads and administrators of Ezrat Yorah [New York] led by Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Henkin shlita”, in which the rabbis describe the blessed work of the program and the increasing stream of olim at the time, which requires great preparedness and resources from them, and requesting support to open new classrooms “and blessed are all those who lend a hand to carry out this great, holy, and historic task.” With a blessing signed by hand by: “Rabbi Yehezkel Sarna, Rosh Yeshivat Hevron, Rabbi A. Y. Finkel, Rosh Yeshivat Mir, Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin, Avdak of Lutzk.” Size 28x18.5cm. Envelope paper, folds, overall good condition.

Rabbi Yehezkel Sarna, Rabbi Hetzkel (1890-1969) was the Rosh Yeshiva of Hevron Knesset Yisrael and a member of the Council of Torah Sages. He was a student of the Saba of Slobodka and was responsible for the transfer of the yeshiva from Slobodka to Hevron and then (after the events of 1929) to Jerusalem. Many of his students became Roshei Yeshivot, rabbis, and dayanim in Israel and around the world.

Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel (1878-1965) was Rosh Yeshivat Mir in Mir and re-established it in Israel, and was also a member of the Council of Torah Sages. He was the son of the Saba of Slobodka, Rabbi Natan Zvi Finkel. He studied under his father and among Lithuanian sages including the Chafetz Haim, Rabbi Shimon Skkop, and Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisl. He was the son-in-law of Rabbi Eliyahu Baruch Kamay, the rabbi of Mir.

Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin (1880-1966) was the son of Rabbi Ben Zion. He was Av Beit Din of Lotzk (Ukraine) before the Shoah, and he served as head of the Council of Torah Sages, a leader of the Vaad Yeshivat and the Chinuch Atzma’i. He won the Rav Kook Prize for Judaic Literature in 1952. He is described in the book Ohaeli Shem: “This excellent rabbi had wonderful skills, and apart from his greatness in Torah he was also well-versed in the sciences, he passed exams in all subjects held at the Gymnasium, and he could be chosen as official rabbi of any town in Russia; he is also a wonderful darshan, a great thinker, and really draws in anyone who listens to him.”