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Letter Loaded with Blessings from the Admo”r Rabbi Yechezkel of Ostrovtza, 1936 - to help his brother-in-law Rav of Melitz - Letter Loaded with Blessings from the Admo”r Rabbi Yechezkel of Ostrovtza, 1936 - to help his brother-in-law Rav of Melitz The Admo”r Rabbi Yechezkel HaLevi of Ostrovtza [1887-1943] was the second Admo”r of Ostrovtza, son of Rabbi Yechiel Meir, who, as is known, fasted 40 successive years to prevent the Holocaust (tzaddikim of the generation compared him to the tanna Rabbi Tzaddok who fasted 40 successive years to prevent the destruction of the Temple, in Tractate Gittin.) Rabbi Yechezkel was perfect in the revealed and hidden [aspects of Torah], thousands of his Chassidim and admirers flocked to his home. He was one of the most prominent Admo”rs in Poland. As is known, the Nazis, may their names be obliterated, especially sought out rabbinic leaders: In 1943, the Gestapo demanded that Rabbi Yechezkel be turned in, or else 200 of the town's Jews would be burned. In response, the Rebbe said, ”Better that I be the community's sacrifice than the reverse.” He immersed in a mikveh and recited selichot and vidui at dawn. On the tenth of Tevet, at nine o'clock in the morning, the Nazis came and shot him to death. Most of his writings were lost in the Holocaust; the few that survived were published under the name Kodshei Yechezkel.