Bidspirit auction | Historic and special! A letter

Historic and special! A letter in the sacred handwriting of the 'Jerusalem tzaddik - the father of the prisoners' Rabbi Aryeh Levin ztzel - mentions Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook and his brother-in-law Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer - Historic and special! A letter in the sacred handwriting of the 'Jerusalem tzaddik - the father of the prisoners' Rabbi Aryeh Levin ztzel - mentions Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook and his brother-in-law Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer The ”Tzadik of Jerusalem” R. Aryeh Levin (1885-1969), excelled in Torah and in charitable deeds. He served as the spiritual director and supervisor of the Etz Chaim Talmud Torah (boy's school). An alumnus of Lithuanian yeshivot: Hlusk, Slutsk, Volozhin and the Torat Chaim yeshiva in Jerusalem, he was a cherished disciple of the leading Torah scholars of the generation: R. Refael Shapiro of Volozhin, R. Chaim Berlin, R. Shlomo Elyashiv the Leshem, R. Baruch Ber Leibovitz, R. Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, his brother-in-law R. Tzvi Pesach Frank and R. Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik of Brisk. He immigrated to Jerusalem as an adolescent and married the granddaughter of the head of the Jerusalem Beit Din, R. Chaim Yaakov Shapira. He was renowned for his dedication to acts of benevolence. He was a beloved friend to one and all, wholeheartedly sharing the difficulties and joys of his brethren. R. Aryeh, the ”hidden Tzadik”, concealed his greatness in the knowledge and study of mishnah, and despite his substantial composition on the Six Orders of Mishnah, he wrote in his will with exceptional humility: ”…I am not fully proficient in even one chapter of mishnayot…”. None of his disciples and associates knew about the comprehensive work he composed. Only in his final years did he give his grandson R. Elchanan Yakobovits (a Chabad Chassid) his manuscript notebooks on four orders. After the passing of R. Aryeh, his grandson (upon the advice of his teacher the Lubavitcher Rebbe) began editing this important commentary, yet its publication was delayed for many years, and only in 2011-2013 were three parts of the work finally published. R. Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, in his approbation to Mishnat Aryeh, writes about the author, his father-in-law: ”My father-in-law R. Aryeh Levin, who in his great humility concealed and hid his Torah prominence…”.