KALISCH, ISAAC OF WURKA (1779-1848)

R. Isaac of Wurka was one of the most important disciples of the Chozeh of Lublin and a famed Chasidic Rabbi of the Polish school. He was renown for his attempts at alleviating the economic plight of the Jews of Russia and the Holy Land. The Wurker, as he was known, together with the Chidushai Harim, famously met with Sir Moses Montefiore upon his visit to Warsaw in 1846. This letter was written during the Rebbe's short exile in Nadrazhin as a result of a tragic boat accident involving Chasidim on their way to Wurka and the Rebbe's subsequent need for meditation and atonement. Very few letters have survived from his Nadrazhin period of exile