Collection of Letters from Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler, Author of Michtav M'Eliyahu

Collection of Letters from Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler, Author of Michtav M'Eliyahu
Five letters handwritten and signed by R. Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler. England and Eretz Israel, 1946-1952. The letters are all addressed to his friend R. Hillel Medalie, who was appointed at that time as rabbi of Leeds (England). The letters contain: congratulations and advice upon his new appointment, acknowledgement and gratitude for his assistance in fundraising for the Gateshead Kollel, and other topics. In the letter dated Cheshvan 1947, R. Dessler congratulates R. Medalie upon the celebration of his appointment as rabbi of Leeds, and wishes him to merit to toil in Torah, disseminate Torah to the public, educate the youth and repair the breaches and vices. He writes: "…Behold, one who has such aspirations, will certainly receive Heavenly assistance, and honor and prominence will also pursue him and reach him; for truly great actions, they ultimately bring close, whilst half-actions and compromises, invite contempt, even from those who were originally fervent supporters". In a different letter dated the day after Yom Kippur 1952, R. Dessler addresses him as "my dear friend R. Hillel", and continues with thought-provoking words of humility: "I thought, perhaps he will follow my ways and cease according titles of honor to a lowly person like myself, therefore I refrained this time from writing some to him as well, perhaps he will learn, and we will together renounce the ugly path of writing honorific titles in this orphan generation…". R. Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler (1892-1953), a pious Torah scholar, was one of the leading producers of Musar literature in our generation, and a descendant of R. Yisrael of Salant, founder of the Musar movement. A product of the Kelm yeshiva, he was the son-in-law of Nachum Ze'ev Ziv of Kelm. He arrived in England in 1927 and served as rabbi of Dalston, London. Among the founders of the Gateshead Kollel and of Torah institutes throughout England. In his later years, he served as mashgiach of the Ponevezh yeshiva in Bnei Brak. His profound lectures constructed upon the fundamentals of ethics, Kabbalah and Chassidism were published by his disciples in the book Sichot U'Ma'amarim, in the five volumes of Michtav Me'Eliyahu and in Sefer Zikaron Michtav Me'Eliyahu, which have become the basis for profound study of Musar in this generation. 5 letters, including a postcard and aerogram. Size and condition vary.