צרור מכתבים מתלמידי ישיבת מיר, קוֹבֶּה (יפן) – 1941

A bundle of letters sent to Rabbi Anshel Weinhaus by his fellow students of the Mir Yeshiva, Kobe (Japan), 1941. From the content of the letters, it appears that Anshel Weinhaus had arrived directly in Shanghai, while his companions, who held transit visas through Japan, write to him of events and developments at the yeshiva and of efforts to obtain entry permits to the United States. * A long letter from the student Kalman Lichtenstein [later a rabbi in the United States], describing events at the yeshiva and instructions for action on behalf of yeshiva affairs, at the home of Rabbi Ashkenazi in Shanghai. * A letter from the student Moshe Bunem Pirutinsky [later a rabbi in the United States, author of *Sefer HaBrit* on the laws of circumcision], who writes that he is brief in his writing "because time presses, as I am currently engaged in the weighty sugyot of Yevamot." * Two long letters from a student named "Anshel," writing about yeshiva affairs and efforts to obtain visas to the United States, and the refusal of the American authorities and the ambassador in Kobe to assist the refugees. He reports that Rabbi Chaim [Shmulevitz] delivers shiurim and Rabbi Yechezkel [Levenstein] delivers "inyanim" [=mussar talks], in which he advocates that they travel to Shanghai. He reports and quotes a sharp dialogue between Rabbi Chaim and the American ambassador in Kobe, who grants no visas to refugees, while only the ambassador in Yokohama managed to obtain a few visas. He also reports on the policy of the American immigration authorities not to grant visas at all to anyone whose family was under German or Russian occupation, out of fears of espionage… [A tragic decision that prevented many refugees fleeing the sword of annihilation from finding a place of rescue from the Holocaust.] At the Mir Yeshiva in Shanghai there studied two students by the name of "Anshel Weinhaus." It appears that both letters were written by one "Anshel" Weinhaus to the other "Anshel Weinhaus." After the war, one of them settled in Bnei Brak, devoted himself to Torah teaching, and passed away in 1978; the other [a disciple of Rabbi Baruch Ber at the Kamenitz Yeshiva] settled in the United States where he served in the rabbinate, and passed away there approximately four years ago. 4 letters, 8 pages, varying size and condition.