Passport of Rebbetzin Rasha Leah Karelitz, Mother of the Chazon Ish – Poland, Mid-1930s – With Her Passport ...

Passport of Rebbetzin Rasha Leah Karelitz, Mother of the Chazon Ish – Poland, Mid-1930s – With Her Passport Photograph and Signature
Passport of Rebbetzin Rasha Leah Karelitz (Rasza Karelic), mother of the Chazon Ish, with her passport photograph and signature. Poland, 1930s. Polish and French.
Polish passport. The identifying details of Rebbetzin Karelitz were filled in by hand on p. 2 – Year of Birth: 1860; Place of Birth: Kosava; Civil status: Widow; and other details. Her photograph is affixed to p. 3, accompanied by her handwritten signature.
The passport contains several ink-stamps, which document her immigration to Eretz Israel: On 8th May 1935, she received an entry visa to Palestine from the British Passport Office in Warsaw. On the 21st May 1935, she was accorded an immigration certificate from the Polish authorities. On 28th May 1935, she left Poland for the port-city of Constanța, Romania, where she boarded a ship, reaching Eretz Israel on 2nd June 1935.
Rebbetzin Rasha Leah Karelitz (ca. 1854-1940), daughter of R. Shaul Katzenellenbogen Rabbi of Kosava and Kobryn. In 1874, she married R. Shemaryahu Yosef Karelitz (1852-1916), who was appointed rabbi of Kosava (close to Hrodna), in place of his father-in-law who went to serve as rabbi of Kobryn. She was renowned for her righteousness and modesty, and not for naught did she merit that all her nine sons and sons-in-law were outstanding Torah scholars and renowned rabbis, amongst the leaders of their generation. Her sons: R. Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz author of Chazon Ish, R. Meir Karelitz Rabbi of Lechavitch (Lyakhavichy) and head of the Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah, R. Yitzchak Zundel Karelitz successor of his father as rabbi of Kosava, R. Moshe Karelitz of Vilna author of Or Chadash. Her sons-in-law: R. Shmuel Greineman, R. Abba Swiatycki Rabbi of Kosava and Tiktin, R. Shmuel Eliyahu Kahn Rabbi of Orsha, R. Nachum Meir Tzibolnik-Karelitz, R. Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky author of Kehilot Yaakov (the Steipler).
The Chafetz Chaim once asked her how she merited to bear such illustrious offspring, and she responded that the merit may be ascribed to her exceptional modesty, as she was particular that the walls of her home never see her hair. Reputedly, she fell ill soon after her wedding, and the doctors warned her that bearing children may risk her life. Her father R. Shaul reluctantly suggested that his son-in-law divorce her to enable him to have children, but she heroically decided to disregard the doctors' cautions, asserting that since that was her purpose in life, G-d would surely have mercy on her (HaChazon Ish BeDorotav, p. 17).
She was widowed of her husband during WWI, and near the end of her life she immigrated to Eretz Israel, where she resided for a few years in Bnei Brak, close to her son the Chazon Ish and her daughter, wife of the Steipler. She merited to witness the preeminence of her son the Chazon Ish, in fulfillment of the dictum "fortunate is the one who bore him".
Passport, 40 pages. 14.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Marginal creases and tears to first leaf. Minor damage to cover.