Transatlantic WWI-Era Autograph Halachic & Relief Letter: Rabbi Elchanan Zvi Guterman (Scranton) to Rabbi Jacob Isaac Teitelbaum (Jerusalem, 1921)
Description
Author: The eminent Lithuanian-born sage and early American rabbinic pioneer, Rabbi Elchanan Zvi Guterman (רבי אלחנן צבי גוטרמן, 1884–1965). A prized alumnus of the legendary Slabodka Yeshiva and direct disciple of the Alter of Slabodka, he served as the premier Chief Rabbinic authority of Scranton, Pennsylvania for nearly six decades.
Content & Structure: Written on his official bilingual personal stationery from Scranton, Pa., this full single-page working draft is composed entirely in his rapid, elite rabbinic script and explicitly dated יום ד’, כ"ב חשוון תרפ"ב (Wednesday, November 23, 1921).
Paragraph 1: Rabbi Guterman outlines a targeted financial allocation, enclosing a check for $12 to secure an active institutional membership inside the famed Jerusalem charity fund "מוסד אוצר החסד" (Otzar HaChesed), signing his name prominently at the conclusion of the statement.
Paragraph 2: The text deals with an additional $5 charitable routing, directly addressing his venerable colleague in Jerusalem, the renowned communal leader Rabbi Jacob Isaac Teitelbaum (רבי יעקב יצחק טייטלבוים זצ"ל).
Notable Connection: This document serves as a prime historical artifact documenting the critical financial pipeline between emerging American Orthodoxy and the struggling Old Yishuv of Jerusalem immediately following the devastation of WWI. The recipient, Rabbi Jacob Isaac Teitelbaum, was a premier administrative titan of Jerusalem who regularly co-signed historic decrees alongside Chief Rabbi A.Y. Kook and Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank. This draft beautifully illustrates how Rabbi Guterman used his Pennsylvania pulpit to directly fuel the survival of Jerusalem’s elite institutions.
Condition report:
Status: Good Antique Condition – Text Fully Intact.
Details: The single-page lined sheet is complete and structurally sound. Features light natural age-toning and mild edge-wear. Three clean punch holes are present on the left margin from its historic housing in a rabbinic ring-binder archive. The ink of the script remains sharp, bold, dark, and perfectly legible across every line.
