Letter by Rabbi Itzele Rabbi of Ponevezh – 1914

Letter by Rabbi Itzele Rabbi of Ponevezh – 1914
A letter (14 lines), handwritten and signed by R. Yitzchak Yaakov Rabinowitz Rabbi of Ponevezh – R. Itzele Ponevezher. Ponevezh, Rosh Chodesh Tamuz 1914.
Letter with good wishes to his disciple R. Eliezer Ze'ev Luft, upon his unanimous appointment to the Ribinishok (Lithuania) rabbinate.
R. Yitzchak Yaakov Rabinowitz [R. Itzele Ponevezher] (1853-1919, Otzar HaRabbanim 11378) disciple of the Beit HaLevi and study-partner of his son R. Chaim Soloveitchik for two years. In 1889, the Saba of Slabodka summoned him to head the Slabodka Yeshiva. In 1894, he left Slabodka for the Gruzdziai rabbinate and later relocated to officiate in the Ponevezh rabbinate. In each place, in addition to performing rabbinical tasks, he taught Torah to flocks of disciples and paved a new way of study. A wellspring of Torah, his method of learning is famous in Yeshiva circles until this very day. He died in the typhus epidemic after continually visiting residents of his town who had contracted the disease. Remnants of his Torah novellae were printed in the book Zecher Yitzchak.
The recipient: R. Eliezer Ze'ev Luft (1871-1920), a leading figure of the Mussar Movement. Disciple of the Saba of Slabodka and disciple of R. Itzele Rabinowitz at the time he headed the Slabodka Yeshiva. After R. Rabinowitz left Slobodka in 1894 to serve in the Gruzdziai rabbinate, R. Eliezer Ze'ev was sent by the Saba of Slabodka to join the first nucleus of the Gruzdziai yeshiva. From 1901-1906, he taught and served as mashgiach at the Telz and Radin yeshivot. In 1906, he was appointed rabbi in Kamajai (Lithuania) and established a yeshiva in the city. In the summer of 1914, he accepted the position of Rabbi of Ribinishok wherein he established a yeshiva following the mussar methods acquired from his teacher the Saba of Slabodka. Upon the outbreak of WWI, he wandered with his disciples and finally joined the Chafetz Chaim's yeshiva which had exiled deep into Belarus.
[1] leaf. 20.5 cm. Good condition. Stains and light creases. Filing holes.