Lengthy Letter Handwritten and Signed by the Beit Yisrael Rebbe of Ger – Chanukah, 1956 – Regarding the Jew's Role ...

Lengthy Letter Handwritten and Signed by the Beit Yisrael Rebbe of Ger – Chanukah, 1956 – Regarding the Jew's Role in these Times, at the Height of the Cold War
Lengthy letter (approx. 32 lines) handwritten and signed by Rebbe Yisrael Alter of Ger, author of Beit Yisrael. Jerusalem, "Sunday, Vayigash, during Chanukah" [28th Kislev 1956].
Addressed to the Chassid R. Avraham Binyamin Zilberberg in Pittsburgh, United States. In the letter, the Beit Yisrael relates to the tension prevailing in the world and particularly in Eretz Israel (at the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, and around one month after Operation Kadesh - the Israeli invasion of Egypt in the Sinai peninsula): "Blessed be G-d, we are alive and well, and may G-d help that there should be quiet and peace in the whole world and here, and may we merit to hear only good news. And I have already written the words of my father the Rebbe who quoted the words of R. Bunem - if one sees kingdoms fighting one another, we as Jews must continue doing our part in Torah and prayer, and thereby await the footsteps of Mashiach…".
Rebbe Yisrael Alter (1895-1977), a foremost leader of Orthodox Jewry, and rebuilder of the Torah and Chassidic world in the generation following the Holocaust. He was the third son of Rebbe Avraham Mordechai Alter, the Imrei Emet of Ger. After the passing of his father the Imrei Emet during the War of Independence in 1948, R. Yisrael was appointed rebbe of Ger. He was one of the leaders of the Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah. He was renowned for his exceptional holiness and his wise and perspicacious leadership, whether in communal or private matters. Following his passing, his Torah discourses were published in the Beit Yisrael series, by his brother R. Simcha Bunim Alter (the Lev Simcha, 1898-1992), who succeeded him as rebbe.
Aerogram, approx. 30 cm. Good-fair condition. Dampstains (affecting several words of text) and folding marks.