Letter of Ordination for a Rebbe from Rabbi Chaim HaLevi of Brisk – Minsk, 1916

Letter with the signature and stamp of R. Chaim HaLevi Soloveitchik. Minsk, Shevat 15, 1916. Written by a scribe with the handwritten signature of R. "Chaim HaLevi Soloveitchik" (the letter was presumably written by his son R. Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik and signed by R. Chaim).
Rabbinical ordination, accorded to Rebbe Menachem Nachum Rabinowitz, son of Rebbe Pinchas of Kontikoziva (Prybuzhany) and son-in-law of Rebbe Yosef of Koidanov (Dzyarzhynsk). R. Chaim alludes to the Rebbe's faculty to give blessings: "Those who acknowledge him will be blessed and fortunate through him, as it says that blessing is adjoined to a Torah scholar".
"R. Menachem Nachum son of R. Pinchas Rabinowitz was by me, he is great in Torah and fear of G-d, sharp and erudite, I discussed Torah with him and found him presenting straight rational in his Torah debates, he responds correctly and in accordance with Halacha… He is exceptional in every way… a son-in-law of the great Torah scholar from Koidanov… therefore my words come to inform others of his virtues. Those who acknowledge him will be blessed and fortunate through him, as it says that blessing is adjoined to a Torah scholar – so says Chaim HaLevi Soloveitchik".
R. Chaim HaLevi Soloveitchik (1853-1918), Rabbi of Brisk (Brest), was a foremost Torah scholar in Lithuania and one of the leaders of his generation, and is considered the initiator of the learning method in Lithuanian yeshivot. He was the son of R. Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, the Beit HaLevi, and son-in-law of R. Refael Shapiro, dean of the Volozhin yeshiva and son-in-law of the Netziv. After his marriage, he began serving as the third dean of the Volozhin yeshiva. With the yeshiva's closure, he proceeded to succeed his father, who passed away in 1894, as rabbi of Brisk, and continued teaching Torah to a small group of elite students. He was known for the uncompromising battle he waged against Zionism (R. Chaim would frequently say that the Zionist movement's prime objective is to uproot faith and Torah observance from the Jewish people). He was one of the founders of Agudath Yisrael, yet despite his extensive public and charitable activity, his mind never ceased learning and innovating in Torah, delving deeply into Torah topics until absolute exhaustion. A small compendium of his novellae was printed some twenty years after his passing in Chiddushei Rabbeinu Chaim HaLevi on the Rambam, published by his son R. Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik Rabbi of Brisk (Brisk, 1936 – in the foreword by the author's sons, they write how the book was written over a period of many years, revised over and over again, "even a hundred times"). Many novellae circulated orally in his name within the Lithuanian yeshivot, transmitted and copied by many writers, resulting in the stencil edition of Chiddushei HaGrach (in recent years, several books were published based on R. Chaim's draft notebooks, with some of the novellae corresponding to those transmitted orally).
The recipient of the ordination: The Rebbe of Koidanov-Haifa – R. Menachem Nachum Rabinowitz (1887-1959) was the son of Rebbe Pinchas Rabinowitz of Kantikuziva-Linitz (1861-1926) and son-in-law of Rebbe Yosef Perlow of Koidanov (d. Chanukah 1915 – a month and a half before this letter was written). He served as rabbi and rebbe in Russia. In 1934, he immigrated to Eretz Israel and became the head of the Beit Din in Haifa. He authored the book Machshevet Nachum.
In Machshevet Nachum (Jerusalem, 2004, p. 239), his son describes the circumstances surrounding this letter of ordination from R. Chaim: "I heard from my father that when he came [to Minsk] to receive rabbinical ordination from R. Chaim of Brisk, he met the latter in his house when he was surrounded by several rabbis and young rabbinical students, and after R. Chaim welcomed him with great reverence and affection, he told him of the purpose of his visit – to obtain an ordination. R. Chaim asked if he had yet been accorded any ordinations, and when he answered to the affirmative, R. Chaim requested to see them. My father showed him one ordination, and R. Chaim, after perusing it, commented: Kalt! [=cold]. My father responded that it isn't so surprising, considering the rabbi who wrote it is an opponent of Chassidism. R. Chaim retorted, 'And what am I?!', to which R. Nachum replied, 'His honor is half a Chassid'…" (see the continuation of the story in the enclosed copy). The preface of Machshevet Nachum (p. [5]) attests that this enthusiastic letter was worded and written by R. Chaim's son, R. Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik Rabbi of Brisk.
[1] leaf. 20.5 cm. Good condition. Stains.