A Handwritten Letter from R. Avraham Kalmanowitz, New York 1958

A Handwritten Letter from R. Avraham Kalmanowitz, New York 1958

“The expenses have increased exponentially due to the many new Talmidim which have arrived from Egypt, Syria and Morocco”.

In this letter, R. Kalmanowitz requests additional funding from Ezras Torah on behalf of the Mirrer Yeshiva in Brooklyn. Because he had recently undergone surgery and was very weak, he was unable to fundraise for the Yeshiva. Written to R. Yosef Eliyahu Henkin, leader of Ezras Torah. He wrote this letter while he was in Sharon Springs, New York recovering from surgery, 1958. 

It is well known that R. Kalmanowitz spearheaded the Hatzalah efforts on behalf of European Jewry during the Holocaust, and played a major role in rescuing the Mirrer Yeshiva from Europe. One of the many beneficiaries of the visas secured by R. Avraham was none other than Reb Aharon Kotler, who arrived in the US via Japan in 1941. 

After the war, R. Avraham doubled his efforts in rescuing Sephardic Jewry from Syria, Morocco and Egypt who were in both spiritual and physical danger, especially after the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948. To that end, he arranged for young boys to emigrate to the US and learn in the Mirrer Yeshiva in Brooklyn. Till this day, R. Avraham is largely credited to the spiritual and physical revival of Sephardic Jews, who continue to impact Jewish life throughout the world. 

As such, it is especially unique to find a letter in which R. Avraham himself describes the arrival of the Sephardic students from Syria, and the dire situation in which the Yeshiva was in during that time.

[1] leaf, entirely handwritten and signed by R. Avraham. Two Sides, written on the official stationery of Yeshivas Mir.