eBay

Rare & important 1960 handwritten letter by Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Henkin (1881–1973), one of the foremost halachic authorities in America, addressed to Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (1895–1986), the legendary posek and Rosh Yeshiva of Mesivta Tifereth Jerusalem in New York.

This historic correspondence between two of the greatest rabbinic leaders of the 20th century provides a direct link to the history of American Orthodoxy. Rabbi Henkin, head of Ezras Torah, was known for his decisive halachic rulings and national leadership. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, author of the monumental responsa Igros Moshe, shaped modern halacha worldwide.

📍 Details:

Date: 1960

Place: New York City

Language: Hebrew (עברית)

Format: Entirely handwritten and signed by Rabbi Henkin in ink

Recipient: Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, legendary halachic authority

Condition: Very good; clear and legible handwriting and signature

---

✡️ Historical Significance:

A letter between Rabbi Henkin and Rabbi Feinstein is extremely rare and valued by collectors of rabbinic autographs (חתימות רבנים), Judaica manuscripts, and American Jewish history. This piece documents the interaction between two giants of Torah leadership whose influence still shapes Jewish law and life today.

---

🔑 Keywords / מילות מפתח:

---

Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Henkin (1881–1973)was a prominent Orthodox rabbi inthe UnitedStates. Biography He was born in 1881 in Klimavichy, Belarus, then in the Russian Empire, andstudied at the Slutzker Yeshiva under Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer. He received rabbinical ordination (semichah) from Rabbi Meltzer, and he was also ordained byRabbi Yaakov Dovid Wilovsky (the Ridvaz), Rabbi Boruch Ber Leibowitz and Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein, the Aruch HaShulchan. However,according to the recollections of a student (included in the responsa of RabbiHenkin's grandson), Rabbi Henkin did not remember receiving ordination fromRabbi Epstein, and for his ordination from Rabbi Wilovsky he was not tested byWilovsky himself, but by Wilovsky's son-in-law.[1] After serving as rabbi in a number of Russian towns, heemigrated to America in 1922. In 1925 he became the director of Ezras Torah, whichprovided assistance to scholars. He served in that capacity until his death. Under his guidance, and following hisdecisions, Ezras Torah published an annual calendar (luach) listing thesynagogue and liturgical customs for each day, specifying the specific practiceof that day. Most traditional non-chassidic synagogues in North Americafollowed the decisions of Rabbi Henkin as their baseline. He had two sons: Louis Henkin, legalacademician and writer, and Rabbi Hillel Henkin, educator in Connecticut. Hisgrandson was Rabbi YehudaHerzl Henkin, an Orthodox rabbi in Israel. Many of Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Henkin's opinions are onlyknown through the responsa ofhis grandson. Halachic Positions Rabbi Henkin considered Reform marriage as aform of common law marriage requiring a Jewish divorce (get). He was opposed to the practice seen inmany yeshivas and synagogues of pausingin the middle of the RoshHashanah services for kiddush and refreshments before shofar-blowing. (His stance is defended in his grandson'sresponsa.) If a Jewish storekeeper completed a formto sell his chametz to a non-Jewbefore Passover, yet he kept hisstore open, selling chametz on Passover and keeping the profits for himself, RabbiHenkin felt that this proved the "Chametz sale" to be a fraud and therefore invalid. (Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, on theother hand, believed the sale to still be valid.) Rabbi Henkin felt that in a case wheretuna are being caught, it is halachically permissible to check only a few ofeach batch and not each individual fish; Rabbi Feinstein, on the other hand,felt that each fish needed to be checked for kosher markings that it was infact, a tuna and not some other fish.Manhattan eruv In 1936, Rabbi Henkin declared that RabbiYehoshua Seigel's 1905 Manhattan eruv could no longer be relied on because hehad only acquired permission for ten years. However, Rabbi Henkin's mainargument why the eruv could no longer be relied on was because of theconstruction of bridges that crossed Manhattan’s waterfront.[2] Rabbi Henkin was involved in all thediscussions about the Manhattan eruv, and on March 15, 1960, he signed on aStatement of the Vaad L’Maan Tikkun Eruvin B’Manhattan[3] that stated the need to investigate how to bring to fruitionthe plan for a Manhattan eruv. On July 12, 1961, Rabbi Henkin wrote aletter stating that there was a sound basis to establish an eruv in Manhattan.[4] Yet, he wrote that until the eruv would receive the written supportof most of the rabbanim of Manhattan, the permission for the eruv would only befor times of great need. The 1979 letter opposing the Flatbusheruv alleges that Rabbi Henkin signed the 1962[5] letter against the Manhattan eruv. Yet, his name is not onit, and it is on the 1960 letter in favor.[6][7] The prevailing view on this matterappears to be that of Rabbi Henkin's, which may be derived from the fact thatas of June 2007, the East Side portion of the internal Manhattan Eruv wascompleted, offering an eruv within Manhattan to Orthodox Jews living on theEast, Upper East, and Upper West Sides.[8] Additionally, there are also two other eruvin in Manhattan'sWashington Heights, a neighborhood that also once resisted the drive toestablish them; one covering the Yeshiva University area[9] and another covering the Fort Washington area.[10] Position on Israel Henkin vigorously opposed Zionism, butonce the State of Israel wasestablished he declared the need to support its continued existence, anddenounced those who tried to undermine it. In 1959 he wrote: I wasshocked to read in Chomoteinu (Cheshvan5719) the slanderous notion that we are required to give our lives to frustrateand resist the efforts of the State of Israel in its struggle against those whowould rise up against them. This was stated as a psak din based on "Israelis restricted from rebelling against the nations." (Ketubot 111a) [...]but once done, though the admonition was ignored, we are required to supportthem with mesirut nefesh. [...] Once the state was declared, anyone who playsinto the hands of the nations of the world even where there is no imminentdanger, is clearly an informer and pursuer (rodef). All the more when there isdanger to destruction of life in so doing. [...] Those essays I wrote beforethe advent of the state (many of which have been reprinted in my book Leiv Ivra)will testify to the fact that I am not a supporter of the government, and Iobjected to the entire idea of a state. (It is for this reason I am not amember of Agudah so that I not be judged incorrectly as one who agreed withtheir position in the founding of the state.) But now it is our obligation thatwe all support the state in the face of its external enemies and then go on toguide it in the ways of Torah.[11] Bibliography Rabbi Norman E. Frimer and Dov I. Frimer,"Reform Marriages in Contemporary Halakhic Responsa," Tradition, Vol.21, No. 3 (Fall 1984), 7 - 39; Henkin, Rabbi Yehuda, EqualityLost, Chapter 16 "Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Henkin", pp. 156–180(biography of Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Henkin by his grandson), Jerusalem: UrimPublications, 1999. References 1. ^ Benei Banim Vol. II,Essay 1, Paragraphs 9 and 12 ( "בני בנים - חלק א - הנקין, יהודה הרצל (Page 210of 315)". Archived from the original on July24, 2015. Retrieved August 23, 2015. ) 2. ^ Luach HaYovel Shel Ezras Torah,p. 62. This letter was later reprinted in Edus L’Yisroel, 1949(p. 151) 3. ^ Divrei Menachem, O.C. vol. 2p. 10 4. ^ ibid., pp. 14–15; Hapardes36th year, vol. 4, and Kisvei Hagriah Henkin, pp. 32–33 5. ^ 2007 reaffirmations of the Manhattan eruv prohibitionalong with the original 1962 prohibition where Henkin's signature is clearlynot present Archived July 4, 2008, at the Wayback Machine 6. ^ Part 1 of Discussion on Henkin'sposition on Eruvin in Manhattan 7. ^ Part 2 of Henkin's position on Eruvinin Manhattan 8. ^ NYTimes, A Translucent Wire in the Sky, By Sewell Chan, June 15, 2007 9. ^ YU Eruv 10. ^ Discussion on Washington Heights Eruv 11. ^ RabbiChaim Wasserman. "Rav Henkin ztz"l on EretzIsrael and Medinat Yisrael". Archived from the original on August 29, 2005.