"The Shechitah Decree in Poland" Letter from the Gaon Rabbi Elimelech Gutterman, Av Beit Din of Koruv

"The Shechitah Decree in Poland" Letter from the Gaon Rabbi Elimelech Gutterman, Av Beit Din of Koruv

"Due to the terrible shechitah decree we are left without food or sustenance"

Letter with important historical content, entirely [2 pp] handwritten and stamped by the gaon Rabbi Elimelech Gutterman, av beit din of Koruv [Poland]. Koruv, 1937.

The letter was sent to the Orthodox chief rabbi of New York. It discusses the shechitah decree in Poland issued right before the Holocaust, that destroyed the livelihood of rabbis and other religious functionaries, which was mainly based on the fee for kosher meat. Many Torah works were written about this decree, and protest posters were published throughout the Jewish world. In a letter sent by the gaon Rabbi Chaim Ozer to the gaon Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Herzog, Rabbi Chaim Ozer writes, "It would have been appropriate to establish a public fast in the Holy Land and across the Diaspora, but due to local political considerations, a time was not selected for this."

In this letter, written at the time of the decree that brought rabbis to the brink of  starvation, the av beit din of Koruv describes - without any embellishment - the state of the starvation of his family who are quite simply starved for bread.

"... as for a description of the pressure and distress prevailing in my home, may Hashem have mercy, this sheet of paper is too small to contain it. I and my eight children who depend on me are suffering extreme starvation. Because of the terrible shechitah decree, we are left without food or sustenance. The entire livelihood of rabbis in our country was from shechitah ..."

The situation was so hopeless that Rabbi Gutterman had no choice but to write the chief rabbi of New York requesting that he seek out his wealthy relative in New York, to whom he had sent many unanswered letters, to influence him to send urgent help - as the situation is one of pikauch nefesh. The av beit din of Koruv concludes his desperate letter with warm blessings to be inscribed and sealed for the good, a year of good, sweet life, and to be inscribed and sealed in the book of complete tzaddikim immediately for good, long and proper life.

Unfortunately, just a few years later, the av beit din of Koruv was murdered at the head of his community, who, along with most of European Jewry, were led by leaders of their cities and communities, those most sought-after by the Nazis, as is well-known.

Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of the sacred gaon Rabbi Elimelech Gutterman.

[2] pp, 23x29 cm. Official stationery, written on both sides.

Fine condition. Fold marks.