"Shiurim with much effort" – A Letter from the Great Rabbi Eliyahu Baruch Kamai, Av Beit Din and Rosh Yeshiva of Mir.
A letter from the great Rabbi Eliyahu Baruch Kamai, Av Beit Din and Rosh Yeshiva of Mir, in which he apologizes for not having time to respond due to his many obligations and asks for forgiveness. He also explains that he cannot forgo his daily lesson: "..
.even the regular Shiurim, which require much effort, I am not able to cancel…, " and he had to send his correspondent’s pamphlets before he had a chance to review them: "…and I was forced to send Your Honor’s pamphlets before I had laid my eyes on them…".
The great Rabbi Eliyahu Baruch Kamai (1840–1917), one of the greatest yeshiva heads in Lithuania before the war, served as Av Beit Din and Rosh Yeshiva of Mir. In his youth (1868), he served as the rabbi of Shkod (Lithuania). In 1878, he was appointed rabbi of Karlitz, in 1885 rabbi of Vekshna, and in 1888 rabbi of Tsachanovitz. In 1899, he became a senior lecturer at the Mir Yeshiva and later its head. In 1901, after Rabbi Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Teomim (the Aderet) ascended to Jerusalem, Rabbi Kamai was appointed rabbi of the city of Mir. During World War I, the yeshiva was destroyed, and his son-in-law, the great Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, continued its leadership afterward. Rabbi Kamai was known for his sharp lessons, and students from all over Lithuania came to hear his teachings, including the great Rabbi Reuven Grozovsky, author of Chiddushei Reb Reuven. Most of his writings were lost in the Holocaust, with a small portion printed by his son-in-law in Divrei Eliezer (Part 1, Jerusalem, 1964).
Letters from Rabbi Eliyahu Baruch Kamai are exceedingly rare!
1 page, in good condition, signs of wear and folding, with the bottom section torn (it appears no text was missing).
