Especially Rare: Letter from the Sacred Gaon Rabbi Yosef Schluffer, Av Beit Din of Slonim - the Youth Who Ran After ...

Especially Rare: Letter from the Sacred Gaon Rabbi Yosef Schluffer, Av Beit Din of Slonim - the Youth Who Ran After the Rabbi Isaac Charif's Carriage

Important letter about agunah-related topics handwritten and signed by the sacred gaon Rabbi Yosef "HaTzaddik" Schluffer, av beit din of Slonim and author of Porat Yosef, renowned son-in-law of Rabbi Eizel Charif (see below). The letter was sent to the gaon Rabbi Yosef David Shachor, av beit din of Antapoli. Slonim, 1894. Letters from him are extraordinarily rare.

The sacred gaon Rabbi Yosef Schluffer "the ilui of Dynaburg" was known as one of the gedolei v'tzaddikei hador. He served in one of the most prominent rabbinates in Lithuania, in which the following giants of their generation served in succession: his father-in-law Rabbi Eizel Charif, followed by the gaon Rabbi Yosef Reisin - av beit din of Telz, and then the gaon Rabbi Yosef Schluffer, who was succeeded by the wonder-worker Rabbi Mordcheleh of Oshmina. The gaon Rabbi Yosef Schluffer authored important sefarim - Porat Yosef and Merkavat Yosef - which shook the world with their acuteness. The fact that when the gadol hador, the Chafetz Chaim, printed his work Likkutei Halachot, he took an approbation from Rav Yosef for his sefer (see the attached photocopy), attests to his greatness and his status among gedolei Yisrael. 

The story of his shidduch with the gaon Rabbi Eizel Charif's daughter is well-known. It appears through the generations in dozens of sifrei mussar and biographies of tzaddikim. Mashgichim in yeshivahs to this day often relate it during their mussar talks at the beginning of the zman. The story symbolizes his burning love of Torah:

When Rabbi Yitzchak Eizel's daughter came of age, Rabbi Eizel traveled to the Volozhin yeshivah, stood on the bimah and announced: "I am looking for a bridegroom for my daughter, and I cannot test all of you. I will ask a kushyah, and I will take the young man who resolves it as a bridegroom for my daughter." He asked the question and the yeshivah concocted all sorts of options, but there was no resolution that satisfied Rabbi Eizel. For lack of any resolution, he returned to his carriage. He saw one young man running after him with all his might. This was the youth Yosef Schluffer, the "the ilui of Dynaburg." When he caught up with the carriage, he said to Rabbi Eizel: "Rabbi, irrespective of the shidduch, what is the answer?" This impressed Rabbi Eizel, and he said: "Such a desire for Torah is what I need!" and he took him for a son-in-law.

Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of Rabbi Yosef "HaTzaddik" Schluffer, av beit din of Slonim.

[1] postcard. 13.5x9 cm.

Very fine condition. Minimal stains. Small tear in one corner.