LEVINE, CHAIM ABRAHAM DOV-BER HAKOHEN (“THE MALACH.”)

(CHASSIDISM)

20th June

Spring Valley

1932

Autograph Letter Signed, in Yiddish interspersed with Hebrew, to his son Raphael Zalman comparing the love of a father for his son to the boundless love of a Jew for God. However although every Jew possesses this innate love of God, it can be eroded by self-love and bodily pleasures, such as reading "Sepharim Chitzonim." The Malach admonishes his son to overcome the Yetzer Hara by constant diligence to the study of Torah. "Please understand what I am hinting at 'between the lines'..."

Raphael Zalman Levine, studied in Kamenitz under R. Baruch Ber Lebowitz and also attended R. Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (Yeshiva University). He later moved to Albany, where he held positions in public service and as a congregational Rabbi. His father sent a constant stream of letters to his son with guidance, especially beseeching him to learn constantly and in depth, guiding him as to which texts to focus on. See J.R. Mintz, Hasidic People (1992), pp. 21-26 and B. Naor, God’s Middlemen (1998) pp. xlix-l