(IsraelNN.com) Billionaire Arcadi Gaydamak continues to make headlines - this time for a personal letter written by the famous Rabbinical Leader Chafetz Chaim on behalf of a relative.

Gaydamak was presented with a copy of the letter at a dinner for Yeshivat Hevron last Thursday, and reacted with great emotion.  "From the very moment I began to support yeshivot in their holy work," he exclaimed, "I felt a special connection to the Hevron Yeshiva.  Now I know why."

The letter was written in 1925 by the Chafetz Chaim, Rabbi Yisrael Meir HaKohen Kagan of Radin, who is considered to be in the top handful of Torah giants of the late 19th and early 20th century.  It was addressed to the rabbinic leadership of Yeshivat Hevron, which had just moved from Lithuania to the City of Patriarchs in the Holy Land.

The Chafetz Chaim made a special request that a student named Chaim Gaydamak, whom he described as a "precious student, one of the best, sharp, knowledgeable and G-d-fearing," be accepted to the yeshiva in Hevron.
The circumstances at the time were that the British rulers of the Holy Land issued "certificates of Aliyah (immigration)" at a very slow pace.  Similarly, the Jewish Agency did not rush to distribute the few certificates it received to the hareidi-religious sector.  An official acceptance of the candidate by the prestigious Hevron Yeshiva, however, would enable young Chaim Gaydamak to receive a certificate.

Arcadi Gaydamak confirmed that Chaim was in fact, a relative of his, though the exact relationship was not reported.

In his speech at the dinner, Gaydamak spoke about the importance of supporting traditional Jewish education.  "It's not the hareidim who must come closer to the secular Jews," he said, "but rather the secular must learn more about their Judaism and come closer to the hareidim."  Gaydamak, who grew up in the Communist Soviet Union, does not sport a skullcap.