A Letter in the Handwriting and with the Signature of the Genius of Torah and Mussar Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, "Chief ...

A Letter in the Handwriting and with the Signature of the Genius of Torah and Mussar Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, "Chief Rabbi" of New York, to Rabbi Shmuel Salant - 1892 - Extremely Rare!
A letter from Rabbi Yosef Domsky to Rabbi Shmuel Salant, requesting financial assistance. Yiddish. In the letter's margins is a recommendation (6 lines) in the handwriting and with the signature of the genius of Torah and Mussar Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, the Chief Rabbi of New York.
Rabbi Yosef Domsky was a G-d fearing, Torah learned Jew who emigrated from Kovno to New York to make a living, but all of his attempts to earn money in New York ended in disappointment. He describes his distress in rich language and begs the Rabbi of Jerusalem Rabbi Shmuel Salant to send him what is left from the estate of his father-in-law, Rabbi Meir Zechariyas, which he should send to the Rabbi of Kovno, Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor, who, as is known, assisted his city's residents with their finances and was great in Torah and in kindness, as can be seen from the letter.
Rabbi Yosef Domsky writes: "Throughout my life I was a rich man, and I gave charity generously for the poor people of the Land of Israel, and unfortunately, now that my hair is white I have lost my fortune, and I had to wander to the faraway land of America, whose stones hate Jews, I left a wife and six children behind me, and I am embarrassed that I must ask you to send me money from the land of Israel, but what can I do, necessity breaks steel".
At the end of the letter are 6 lines in the handwriting of Rabbi Yaakov Yosef. He enquires about Rabbi Salant's health and bears witness that Rabbi Yosef is an honest poor person.

Rabbi Yaakov Yosef (1848-1902) was considered one of the great geniuses of Lithuania. He served as Rabbi of important congregations and lastly as the Chief Halachic Ruler of Vilna. Alongside his genius in Torah he was a genius in Mussar. He was a student of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter. In 1888 he reached a turning point of his life: The congregation of New York approached him and offered him the position of the "General Rabbi". At that time, throughout America, and in New York in particular were a large number of Jews, most of them immigrants from Eastern Europe, who had no leader and shepherd. The Jews were very happy with the arrival of the great Rabbi whose name went before him. Rabbi Yaakov Yosef was also very happy with this appointment. However, it soon became clear that the situation was much more complicated: the immigrants' spiritual condition was far from satisfactory, as the battle to survive financially in the new country created harsh problems of Shabbat and Kashrut observance, and caused a significant spiritual decline. Many of the ritual slaughterers, those who give Kosher authorization and the rest of those in religious positions who were used to working with no Rabbi above them, made the new Rabbi's life difficult. It can be said that some of the congregation carried out an all-out war against this pure righteous man. The great Lithuanian Torah scholars supported him and the Maharil Diskin wrote a sharp letter about this from Jerusalem. Over several decades this pure learned man underwent many adventures. But Rabbi Yaakov Yosef was afraid of no-one. He led the Rabbinate and the "Rabbinic Union" which he founded strongly, and gave the Torah in America its appropriate standing and place. American Jewry and its Torah world, as well as worldwide Jewry, owe him a large debt.

Over time, and most likely due to the great distance between America and the center of world Jewry at the time, in Europe, hardly any of his letters survived. No letter of his has been seen at an auction for many years. Extremely Rare! Valuable!
4 pages (folded leaf).
Condition: Good.