Date and Place:
21 Elul 5670 (1910), Yafo
Recipient and Background:
Rabbi Binyamin Menashe Levine. Levine was a protégé of Rav Kook from when Rav Kook was a rabbi in Biosk. We have seen warm letters between them over the years. Rav Kook encouraged Rav Levine’s scholarship. Rabbi Levine’s greatest field of expertise was the period of the Geonim, and he published the letters of Rav Shrira Gaon. This interchange relates to Levine’s introduction to the book on Rav Shrira Gaon. It was probably written in German, the academic language of Rav Levine’s milieu (he studied in the University of Bern).
Body:
Dear friend, I received your dear composition, some time ago. I do not need to explain to your honor the nature of the joy of my heart to see your glorious work. It is a sign of fabulous diligence, which is a testament to your true love for the ancient luminaries of the Torah. This encapsulates all of the life of our spirit, and these are visible at every corner of your dear composition. This also demonstrates the quality of your major work on the whole publication, which filled my heart with the joy of salvation. Continue to succeed, my dear, be prominent in Efrat and have a name in Beit Lechem of the gates (a sophisticated play on words from Rut 4:11 and Shoftim 5:8, which is very hard to convey in translation), the gates of Torah and the thoughts of holy scholars.
However, a tiny measure of pain is mixed in with my great satisfaction. I considered that it would have been better if this dear treasure would have been written in our holy language, the true acquisition of Hashem’s nation. But this is a widespread problem, from which we hope we can move on when the nations will clearly change to a desire to call out in the Name of Hashem. Then they will collect for us all of our treasures (Torah manuscripts) that exist on foreign soil. Maybe you will recover and transfer the treasure of your goodness to our holy language. This will enrich the new Hebrew language, which has been disgraced from the honor it deserves by its defilers, so that it will return to being expensive property and attractive jewelry, honored by Hashem and by man.
