Shanghai Passport of the Mashgiach Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein of Mir!
Shanghai, USA, and Eretz Yisrael
An official Polish passport issued in Shanghai in 1946 for a refugee, at the close of the famed wartime “exile” – granted to the Mashgiach of the Mir Yeshiva, the master of mussar and tzaddik Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein zt”l.
With this passport in hand, Rabbi Levenstein journeyed from the exile of Shanghai, after the Holocaust had ended, together with many of his talmidim, first to California in the US and from there to the cherished Land of Eretz Yisroel, where he would remain for the rest of his life.
At the beginning of the passport there is an early and unfamiliar photograph of the Mashgiach, radiating the majestic glow of his saintly countenance.
Beneath the photograph, the Mashgiach signed his name in foreign script.
All his life, the Mashgiach yearned to live in Eretz Yisrael. In a moving letter he wrote from Shanghai to the Chazon Ish during that period, he asks the Chazon Ish to daven on his behalf: “That I not be deprived of the merit to return and be restored to the place which is the desire of all Yisrael, and my own deepest desire!” (Ohr Yechezkel – Letters, Iggeres 448)
Regarding the miraculous rescue of the yeshiva during the Holocaust, the Mashgiach wrote: "The mouth and pen would not suffice to relate and write about the divine providence and miracles that Hashem did for us… Indeed, Hashem performed countless miracles and wonders for us." (From his haskamah to the sefer ‘The Miracle of Rescue’)
This is an extraordinary historic artifact, a surviving testimony to a miraculous chapter in the life of the Mashgiach.
The Mashgiach Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein (1885-1974) was one of the greatest mussar giants in recent generations and Mashgiach in the Mir and Ponevezh yeshivos. During the Holocaust, he miraculously escaped with many students of the Mir Yeshiva to Shanghai, China, where they toiled in Torah study and mussar from morning to night, without any involvement in worldly matters. The Mashgiach strengthened and uplifted his hundreds of students with his fiery talks on faith.
The passport also features a photograph of his rebbetzin, Rebbetzin Chaya.
It is interesting to note that under the occupation field, his profession is listed as: Professor!
The passport was issued in Shanghai. From there, the Mashgiach traveled to San Francisco, California, and then on to Haifa, Eretz Yisrael, 1946–1949.
Page Count: 40-page booklet with original cover. (For details of content of passport pages, refer to Hebrew text). Size: 14.2 cm. Condition: Overall good. Booklet detached from cover; age stains.
Detailed description of the passport pages:
Page 1 – The name of Rabbi Yecheskel, the passport holder. The place of issue appears in a stamp: Shanghai.
Page 2 – The personal details of Rabbi Yecheskel and his wife.
Page 3 – A photograph of Rabbi Yecheskel and his signature in Latin letters, as well as a photograph of his wife.
Page 4 – Certification of the passport’s issuance, dated August 9, 1946 (12 Av 5706), establishing its validity until 1947.
Page 5 – Extension of the passport’s validity in 1948, until 1949.
Page 7 – Certification from the Polish Embassy in China confirming the issuance of an immigration permit, dated August 12, 1946 (15 Av 5706).
Page 15 – Immigration authorization from the Shanghai authorities, dated September 4, 1946 (8 Elul 5706). For reasons unknown, this authorization was canceled with a “CANCELED” stamp.
Page 17 – A new immigration authorization from the Shanghai authorities, dated December 31, 1946 (8 Teves 5707).
Page 19 – Entry stamp marking Rabbi Yecheskel’s arrival in San Francisco, California, dated January 19, 1947 (27 Teves 5707).
Page 21 – An official exit permit in Chinese issued by the Shanghai Police, dated August 24, 1946 (27 Av 5706).
Page 23 – Entry visa to the Land of Israel, dated March 21, 1949 (20 Adar 5709).
Page 25 – Permanent residency certificate as an immigrant to the Land of Israel, and a customs stamp from Haifa.
Page 40 – Stamp of the Polish Embassy in Shanghai, dated 1947.
