(RaYa”Tz. Sixth Grand Rabbi of Lubavitch, 1880-1950). Typed Letter Signed in Hebrew, (with two words in his own hand) on personal letterhead, to R. Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook, Chief Rabbi of Eretz Israel

SCHNEERSON, YOSEPH YITZCHAK.

24th Tammuz

Otwock

1935

An important letter displaying the esteem in which the Lubavitcher Rebbe held Chief Rabbi Kook. Written just five weeks before Rav Kook's death - a most unusual and surprisingly heartfelt letter in which the Lubavitcher Rebbe sends his sincerest blessings to Rav Kook for a complete recovery from sickness. The Rebbe commences the letter bestowing honorifics and titles upon Rav Kook reserved for only the very greatest of scholars: "The Gaon who is renowned with splendor among the Geonim of Ya’akov, Amud HaYemini, Patish HaChazak..." The letter reports that the entire Lubavitch Yeshiva in Warsaw of 200 students gathered to pray on behalf of Rav Kook who was on his death-bed at the time. Furthermore the Rebbe writes, upon receving a second telegraph with negative news, the Yeshiva participated in a full day of prayer established by the Agudath HaRabbanim of Poland pleading the Heavens for the great rabbi’s recovery. An important letter written between two giants of 20th-century Rabbinic leadership, whose respective spiritual legacies have shaped tens of thousands of their followers toward radically different approaches to Jewish life