Letter of Responsum by Rebbe Shneur Zalman of Lublin, Author of Torat Chesed – To Rabbi Shmuel Salant

Long letter (four large pages) with a handwritten responsum on the laws of Kiddushin, by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liady to Rabbi Shmuel Salant. [Jerusalem, ca. 1890s].
Scribal writing incorporating the handwriting of the Gaon of Lublin: the opening line reads "My honorable friend, the renowned Rabbi Shmuel Salanter", and the letter is concluded and signed "His friend, Shneur Zalman" with handwritten additions between the lines [this responsum was printed in the book Torat Rabbi Shmuel of Salant", Vo. 3, Siman 121 pp. 54-58].
The Gaon of Lublin, Rabbi Shneur Zalman [Pradkin-Liadier], author of Torat Chesed, was born in 1830 in Liady and was known from childhood as a prodigy and outstanding Torah genius; he became a leading Chassid of the Tzemach Tzedek and of following Lubavitcher rebbes. From 1868 he served as Av Beit Din of Lublin and was one of the most famous Torah scholars of his generation. In 1892 he immigrated to Jerusalem where he was recognized as a foremost Torah sage (together with the Maharil Diskin and Rabbi Shmuel Salant). In 1899 he moved to Hebron (upon the request of Rebbe Shalom Dover Schneerson), but returned to Jerusalem after a short period. In 1901, as he grew older, Rabbi Shmuel Salant sought a successor to the Jerusalem rabbinate and invited the Aderet, (Rabbi Eliyahu David Rabinowitz) who was serving as Rabbi of Mir, Lithuania, to take the post; this caused a disturbance in the Chassidic communities of Jerusalem who hoped that the Gaon of Lublin would be appointed. Still, in spite of the controversy, the two rabbis remained close friends and held each other in great esteem. Rabbi Shneur Zalman died in 1902 and the title “Raban shel Kol Yisrael” is inscribed on his gravestone.
[4] pages. 29 cm. Fair condition, damages to paper (with lacking text), restored with paper filling.