(Author of Emeth LeYa’akov, 1891-1986).

Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetzky was one of the most prominent Roshei Yeshiva, Poskim and communal leaders in the post-World War II Orthodox American Jewish community. Along with Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, he led American Jewry in issues of halachic and spiritual guidance until 1986, when both men died, barely two weeks apart. Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetzky studied for 21 years in Slabodka yeshiva under Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel which was where he met his lifelong friend Rabbi Aharon Kotler, who would later go on to establish the Lakewood yeshiva. Rabbi Kamenetzky was appointed rabbi of Tzituvyan in 1926 and moved to North America in 1937, where he took rabbinical positions in Seattle and Toronto. From 1948 to 1968 he headed Mesivta Torah Vodaath in Brooklyn, New York. Rabbi Kamenetzky’s wry humor and character is evident even in this small letter. He remarks on the different styles in his handwriting from the first few lines of the letter to the end. He states Hayu li Ha’Alim LeTrufah “your leaves were a medicine for me as I was bedridden with a temperature of 103.5… Although the doctor locked me up for eight days (more than the Kohen Gadol)… Your honor will notice that in the middle of this letter I began to write at a table.” Seemingly Rabbi Kamenetzky began to write the letter while in bed and was later able to continue while sitting at a table - thus the change in handwriting.