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Bidding Information
Lot #    9682
Auction End Date    3/22/2005 11:41:00 AM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Burn this letter!
Title (Hebrew)    ... גם מכתבי הנוכחי הי' נכון לשרוף ...
Author    [Ms. - Hasidim] R. Abraham Mordecai Alter of Gur
City    Gur
Publication Date    c. 1938
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description
   [1] p., 111:173 mm., light age staining, ink on paper, neat Ashkenazic script, signed, partial date.
          
Detailed
Description
   Apparently written on the eve of the Holocaust, the Rebbe instructs a disciple or business associate, R. Joseph, to forward the funds he invested and all profits thereof to the Yeshiva Sefat Emet in Jerusalem. Fearful of the new government edicts, he instructs R. Joseph, "to unequivocally not mention his name as the recipient, furthermore, it behooves R. Joseph to destroy this letter."

R. Abraham Mordecai Alter (1866–1948) was the last Rebbe of the dynasty in Poland. Under his leadership Gur Hasidism reached the height of its influence. He restored the recitation of morning prayer to the regular time and enjoined a break during the Sabbath service for public study. A lover of order and precision, he gave Gur Hasidim an organized framework. In the period preceding the Holocaust R. Abraham Mordecai was the most prominent figure in European Orthodox Jewry and one of the founders of Agudat Israel. Particularly sympathetic toward young people and concerned with their needs, he was instrumental in establishing schools and youth organizations. As well as being a scholar, he was an ardent bibliophile. He visited Erez Israel many times and acquired property there. On the outbreak of World War II he escaped from Gur to Warsaw, and finally to Erez Israel in 1940. During and after the Holocaust he was active in rescue work and in the material and spiritual rehabilitation of refugees. He died on Shavuot at the height of the siege of Jerusalem in 1948 and was buried in the precincts of Yeshivah Sefat Emet which he had founded.

          
Reference
Description
   EJ
        
Associated Images
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Listing Classification
Period
20th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Russia-Poland:    Checked
  
Subject
Hasidic:    Checked
  
Characteristic
Language:    Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
Letters:    Checked
  
Kind of Judaica