"One I asked from G-o-d while I was in charge of the killing, which I shall now ask" - an important letter in the handwriting and signature of Rabbi Ephraim Asheri, to Rabbi Yitzchak Kosovsky, Av Beit Din of Johannesburg, in which he describes his feelings in sherit hapleta yeshiva.
" The young men sit and engage in the Torah with great perseverance and with the fear of G-o-d before their wisdom ... And who are they, who are raised from the valley of death, who went down in flames and set on fire, My students, dear to me, as my souls, on whom I give my life and my body, and that is all my inclination in life, and one I asked of G-o-d while I was in the cause of the killing, I returned to the house of G-o-d all the days of my life ... " and concludes with blessings to Rabbi Kosovsky. The Ga'on Rabbi Efraim Asheri [1914-2003], at the beginning of which he studied in the Slavodka, Ponevezh and kelem Talmud yeshivas. He was ordained by the rabbi of Kovno, Rabbi Avraham Dov Kahana Shapira, who was on his side during the Holocaust in the Kovno ghetto. During his stay in the Kovno ghetto, most of the ghetto rabbis were murdered, and Rabbi Shapira himself ceased to rule fully because of his weakness and poor health. At the same time, the Gaon Rabbi Ephraim Asheri responded to halacha questions in his place. The rabbi's pages were placed in the ground, and after the war he published them in the book "Responsa from Me'amakim" - describing the difficult situation of the Jews in the ghetto and the difficult halacha questions that were asked between life and death as it appears in the letter before us.
[1] Official paper sheet. 29x23 cm, few creases, very fine condition.
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