Dvar Avrohom. R. Avrohom Duber Schapira. Kovno Kollel. Zurich 1939.

Dvar Avrohom. R. Avrohom Duber Schapira. Kovno Kollel. Zurich 1939.
Autograph letter to R. Botchko Rosh Yeshiva of Montreux, written while the Dvar Avrohom was in Switzerland for health reasons. He writes that the financial situation in the Kovno Kollel is difficult, and there are no funds for Pesach expenses. He ends the letter by writing that he must now end, as he has no more paper.
R. Avraham Duber Kahana Schapira (1870-1943), was the last Rav of Kovno and one of the leading Talmidei Chachomim and Rabbinical leaders in Lithuania during the pre-WWII era. When the war broke out in 1939, he was in Switzerland for health reasons, where this letter was written. His son, who was living in the United States, sent him a telegram to join him in the U.S. until after the war. His father, upon receiving the telegram, showed it to one of his close friends stating emphatically, “The captain is the last to abandon his sinking ship, not the first. At this time of danger, my place is with the people of my city. I am going to Kovno.” Indeed, he continued to lead and inspire his community until he passed away in the Kovno ghetto, and was perhaps the only Rav given a funeral under the watch of the Nazi occupiers.
23 by 15 cm. Very fine condition.
Opening bid $350