Bidspirit auction | RARE LETTER WITH FULL SIGNATURE

RARE LETTER WITH FULL SIGNATURE OF RABBI YOSEF YITZCHAK SCHNEERSON OF LUBAVITCH CALLING FOR SUPPORT FOR THE TORAH EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS OF RABBI CHAIM OZER GRODZENSKI OF VILNA. Printed letter, dated Riga 1929, appealing for support for traditional Talmud Torah schools operating under Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzenski of Vilna, mentioning his own donation to this cause. The word ‘bivracha’ is added by hand, followed by the Rebbe’s extremely rare full signature. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson (1880-1950), son and successor of Rabbi Shalom Dovber of Lubavitch. As a young man, his father appointed him director of the Tomchei Temimim Yeshivos. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak succeeded his father as Rebbe to large numbers of Lubavitcher chassidim in Russia and around the world and established an extensive network of underground Yeshivos and Talmud Torah schools operating under the atheistic communist Russian regime, despite the risks involved. He was arrested for these activities in 1927, but released after international intervention on his behalf, and left for Riga, Latvia in 1928. In 1932 he moved to Warsaw and then to Otwock in Poland, and was miraculously smuggled out from German-occupied Warsaw to New York in 1940. In America, he continued his efforts to strengthen Orthodox Judaism through the establishment of Yeshivos and schools and through a network of representatives in communities across the country. Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzenski (1863-1940), son of Rabbi David Shlomo – Rabbi of Iwie and son-in-law of (I) Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Grodzenski of Vilna (son-in-law of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter) and (II) Rabbi Meir Atlas of Shavel. Appointed Rabbi in Vilna in 1885 and gradually became recognised as the principal rabbinical leader of Lithuanian Jewry and one of the greatest Torah personalities of the pre-WWII era. Author of Achiezer.  1 side. 16 x 24.5 cm. Good condition. One tear repaired, with loss of a few letters.