Bidspirit auction | SHAPIRO, MEIR (Founder of Chachmei

SHAPIRO, MEIR (Founder of Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva and the Daf HaYomi System, 1887-1937). Typed Letter Signed written in Hebrew on Yeshivath Chachmei Lublin letterhead to Rabbi Justus Tal. A letter of introduction for R. Avraham Chaim Friedman, fundraiser for Chachmei Lublin, to present to Chief Rabbi Justus Tal of Utrecht, Netherlands. Rabbi Shapiro effusively describes the quality of the Torah studied in his yeshiva, which was renowned for its excellence throughout the Jewish world. One page. Lublin, 2nd Shevat (”Nidda Daf 80”), 1931. In his short life, R. Meir Shapiro was a major force in Polish - indeed worldwide - Jewry. A Chassid of the Chortkover Rebbe, he was a profound Talmud scholar who held various rabbinic positions before establishing Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin, an elite institution even among other elite institutions of Torah learning. R. Meir Shapiro was also elected to represent Orthodox Jewish interests in the Polish Sejm. This followed his belief that rabbinic leaders must be activists as well as scholars. The letterhead here has a space for the daily Daf HaYomi, a project that R. Shapiro initiated for world Jewry to embrace, at an Agudath Israel gathering in 1923. The Daf in this letter shows that the first cycle was nearing completion. Rabbi Justus (Tzadok) Tal (1881-1954) was Chief Rabbi of Utrecht. Following WWII, which he survived in hiding through the grace of a Dutch Protestant academic, he was selected to be Amsterdam’s Chief Rabbi. See also Lot 68.