Letter of Recommendation for a Rabbinic Position, Handwritten and Signed by Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman

Letter (approx. 14 lines) handwritten and signed by R. Elchanan Wasserman, written during his journey to the United States. Chicago, [after 1935]. Addressed to the community leaders in Tel Aviv. Recommendation for R. Shmuel Weitzel of Baranovich (Baranavichy), in favor of his appointment as rabbi of one of the Tel Aviv neighborhoods: "…Being that I have known this rabbi for many years, I thought to introduce him in a place where he is not known, since he is very dear and exalted, pleasing to G-d and to man, and it is a great deed to help him as much as possible, to support him from the public fund, so that he can learn and teach, as befits a Torah scholar of his stature… Blessing him… with a life of happiness, blessing and ultimate good… Elchanan Bunem Wasserman". R. Elchanan Wasserman (1875-1941), a renowned Torah scholar, and foremost yeshiva dean in Lithuania. He was a disciple of R. Shimon Shkop in the Telshe yeshiva and prominent disciple of the Chafetz Chaim. He served as lecturer and dean in the Brisk (Brest) yeshiva and other places. During WWI, at the behest of the Chafetz Chaim, he established a yeshiva in Smilavichy (Minsk province, today Belarus). After the war, R. Elchanan founded Yeshivat Ohel Torah in Baranovich. He represented the Chafetz Chaim and R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski in the Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah of Agudat Yisrael. He composed many essays on Jewish ideology which were later published in his book Ikveta DeMeshicha, in which he expressed the Torah stance of his teacher the Chafetz Chaim on Zionist nationalism and the spiritual state of the Jewish people. During the Holocaust, he was deported to the Kovno (Kaunas) ghetto, and was murdered in the Seventh Fort, while studying the laws of Kiddush HaShem. His teachings and lectures were published in the following books: Kovetz Shiurim, Kovetz He'arot, Kovetz Inyanim, Kovetz Igrot HaGaon R. Elchanan Wasserman and others. His approach in learning and his books serve until this day as the basis of intensive yeshiva study in the Torah world. Beneficiary of the letter: R. Shmuel Weitzel (1905-1978), son of R. David Weitzel Rabbi of Baranovich (1875-1957), and son-in-law of R. Shalom Yitzchak Segal, rabbi of Tryškiai (1872-1936). A prominent student of the Beit Yosef - Novardok yeshiva in Białystok and a childhood friend of the Steipler. He also studied in the Radin and Baranovich yeshivot under R. Elchanan Wasserman and his uncle R. Y.Y. Lubchansky. He immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1935 and served as rabbi of Tel Aviv neighborhoods (first of Yaavetz HaTavor and later of the Brenner neighborhood, position he held for several decades). [1] leaf, official stationery (with a picture of the yeshiva building). 28 cm. Good condition. Creases and filing holes.