Autograph Letter Signed in Hebrew on lettehead stationery. Halachic reponsum to R. Mordechai Shochetman concerning Agunoth

R. Solomon David Kahana (1869-1953) succeeded his father-in-law R. Samuel Zanvil Klepfish as Dayan of Warsaw. Upon his escape from Nazi-occupied Warsaw to Eretz Israel, he took up residence in the historic courtyard of the Or ha-Chaim, located in the Old City of Jerusalem. As an expert in the laws of agunot (women whose husbands disappeared in the war), he was appointed by the Chief Rabbinate to lead a special department to focus upon this difficult issue. At the outbreak of Arab hostilities in 1947, Rabbi Kahana was evacuated from the Old City with the help of the Belgian Consul, however, his literary output was lost. (See EJ, Vol. X, cols. 681-2). This letter begins on a note of remorse that the Rabbi was forced to evacuate the Old City leaving behind his responsa and depositions. It ends on a note of apology: "My words are difficult to read because I am not in my place." R. Mordecai Shochetman (1884-1948), formerly a rabbi of Tchernowitz, Rumania, served since his arrival in America in 1942, as rabbi of a congegation on New York City's West Side. See N.Z. Friedmann, Otzar Harabanim, p. 293, no. 14043