A bundle of bound up documents associated with the immigration of HaRav R' Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz, the Chazon Ish, were lately discovered and were put up for sale on Wednesday in Jerusalem by the Israeli Kedem Public Auction Company.
The coming of the Chazon Ish constituted a vital turning point in the establishment of chareidi Jewry in Israel. On one of the documents, Rabbi Moshe Glickman Porush writes to the rabbi of Vilna, HaRav Chaim Ozer Grodzensky, about the formalities regarding the Chazon Ish's immigration as follows: "May Hashem confer upon his aliya great blessing to the chareidi Jewry of Eretz Yisrael through heavenly compassion, which it needs so very, very much at this time."
In this same document, to which is attached the visa, he adds, "We will be very happy to be informed in advance of the day of the Rav's arrival in the Holy Land. We see siyata deShmaya [in the fact] that his visa was approved with unexpected speed, and all this gives us the hope that chareidi Jewry in Eretz Yisrael will find in the Rav a man of the hour, whom we so need, and together with Rabbeinu [HaRav Chaim Ozer Grodzensky] whose immigration is also very imminent, will restore the crown of chareidi Jewry to its former glory."
The correspondence between Rabbi Moshe Porush and HaRav Chaim Ozer is the background and basis of the latter's connection with the Chazon Ish. When the Chazon Ish lived in Vilna, he was largely unknown to the public, even though HaRav Grodzensky consulted with him on all matters regarding the leadership of the Jewish community and of Agudath Israel. Before the Chazon Ish's immigration to Israel, HaRav Chaim Ozer contacted the leadership of Agudath Israel in Jerusalem and informed them that "a lion is coming up from Bovel". It was at this juncture that the Chazon Ish's stature become public knowledge to the point that he eventually became the ultimate authority for chareidi Jewry in matters of chareidi education and yeshivos. He was the one who stood at the forefront of Torah communities in Eretz Yisrael and appointed rabbonim to serve in them. He was also instrumental in establishing the observance of Shmittah and all the other mitzvos connected to the land throughout the Israeli settlements. When he arrived, shmittah was hardly observed, since virtually everyone relied on the supposed sale of the Land during the shmittah year.
Alongside Rabbi Porush's letter are other documents and letters to the Chazon Ish from the Israeli office in Vilna which inform him of his certified immigration to Eretz Yisrael, written in Polish, from the central office of immigration to Israel, for him and his wife, Basha (Basya). This document was filled out in his handwriting and duly signed by the Chazon Ish, joined by a request to the Mandate government in Palestine for an immigration certificate for his mother, Rebbetzin Rasha Karelitz, to Eretz Yisrael.
An interesting point about these documents surfaces upon inspection of the figures of his yearly income in which the Chazon Ish notes that he supports himself by "the sale of books which I have authored - in Palestine, America and Poland - through special agents."
