Letter from the Tzaddik Rabbi Zelig Tarshish of Kelm - Known in Lithuania as Reb Zelig’l Kelemer

Letter from the Tzaddik Rabbi Zelig Tarshish of Kelm - Known in Lithuania as Reb Zelig’l Kelemer
Letter handwritten and signed by R. Yehoshua Zelig HaLevi Tarshish. [Jerusalem?, ca. 1930s].
Sent to R. Tzvi Hirsh Ferber, rabbi in London. The letter opens with blessings of "good life, blessing and peace, light and deliverance and everlasting joy" and concludes with many good wishes for Pesach.
R. Yehoshua Zelig HaLevi Tarshish (1862-1939) was an outstanding Torah scholar and tzaddik, known in Lithuania as "the tzaddik R. Zelig’l Kelemer". Brother-in-law of the Alter of Novardok. In 1881, upon the passing of R. Shlomo Zalman Hurwitz, the rabbi of Kurtuvian, the community asked his son, R. Yozel Hurwitz (known later as the Alter of Novardok), to fill the position. R. Yozel, however, preferred to find a fitting husband for his orphaned sister and appoint him to the position. He chose R. Zelig Tarshish. R. Zelig’s appointment as rabbi of Kurtuvian was celebrated on the day of his wedding. After a nine-year tenure, R. Zelig resigned from the rabbinate, and accepted the position of lecturer in the yeshiva in Berdychiv which was opened by his brother-in-law R. Yozel. After two years, he left this position as well, and dedicated the rest of his life to Torah study and service of G-d in Slabodka, Kelm and Jerusalem. Renowned as a holy man and wonder worker. He performed great acts of kindness, and throughout his life he rose higher and higher in fear of Heaven, good traits and closeness to G-d. He used to go out into the fields and forests surrounding Kelm, wearing his tallit and tefillin, immersing himself completely in prayer and devotion to G-d. At such times, even with many people gathering around him, he would not be distracted from his prayers (there is a well-known picture of R. Zelig standing in the forest immersed in prayer, surrounded by a large group of travelers - see enclosed material). The gentile villagers in the area of Kelm, who also regarded him as a holy man, would rise in his honor as he walked out to the forest, hoping that he would walk in their fields, thus bringing blessing to their produce. He cherished Eretz Israel, and towards the end of his life he settled in Jerusalem, publishing there his three-volume series Ein Tarshish on the Talmud. In 1985, one of his descendants published in New York the booklet "R. Zelig’l Kelemer" about R. Zelig and his family.
[1] leaf. 26 cm. Good condition. Filing holes.