After fleeing Brisk, an influx of letters from home became Rav Moshe Soloveitchik’s lifeline and subsequent private treasure… until they disappeared. Decades later, have they resurfaced? ,Return to Sender
GREAT FRIENDS On safer shores preserving Brisker Torah in Montreaux. From left Aharon Leib Steinman and Leibel Glickson Rav Chaim Brisker’s grandson; Moshe Soloveitchik is third from right (Photos: Amir Levy Shimon Yosef Meller & Mishpacha Archives)
J erusalem 5776/2016
A feeling of excitement somewhat tempered with disbelief filled Rabbi Shimon Yosef Meller as he examined a yellowing document brought to him by a Judaica dealer. The crowded careful handwriting seemed extremely familiar.
As someone who has examined countless letters from gedolim of previous generations Rabbi Meller can often identify the origins of a letter by the handwriting alone but in this case the content of the letter provided an additional clue: it included a complex discourse by Rav Chaim HaLevi Soloveitchik of Brisk which appears in its entirety in Chiddushei HaGrach (Hilchos Yibum V’chalitzah) — but with a conclusion different from the one printed in the sefer.
It was the name of the letter’s recipient however that caused a cautious thrill to rise inside Rabbi Meller. The salutation on the letter read: “To the choshuve bochur Reb Moshe Soloveitchik learning in the yeshivah in Montreux.”
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