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LOT 137:
Historic Discovery: Awesome Letter from Jerusalem Rabbis Opposing Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook
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Historic Discovery: Awesome Letter from Jerusalem Rabbis Opposing Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook
"Rabbi Chiya Bar Abba Said: Even a father and son, rabbi and disciple, who are occupied with Torah in one place, can become enemies who do not move from there until they love one another, as it says: 'Demonstrate in the storm' - read not 'in the storm', rather 'in the end.'" (Kiddushin 30b)
Official letter from the Edah HaChareidit's beit din in Jerusalem with extremely sharp criticism opposing Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, who had just been appointed rabbi of Jerusalem. The letter was written by 'the leader of the generation' Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky of Vilna, entirely handwritten and signed by all the spiritual giants of Jerusalem, led by the Mara D'ara Yisrael, Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld. Jerusalem, 1920. Shocking historic letter.
Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook's appointment as rabbi of Jerusalem caused a huge wave of protests and condemnations; this was one of the earth-shattering affairs in the Old Yishuv. In this letter, revealed here for the first time, we see before our eyes that the rabbis of the Edah HaChareidit, already in the early stages of the controversy, turned to Rabbi Chaim Ozer of Vilna and presented him with excerpts from Rabbi Kook's books as in their eyes "it is forbidden to hear them and all the more so to write and print them, " after quoting some 'dangerous' passages, they turn the question over to the rabbi of Vilna, who will decide what the ruling regarding the books is, as to whether they are "magicians' books that may not be perused, nor rely on all its vanities and dreams."
Letter rare in its sharpness written by leading rabbis against another rabbi. The letter is full of expressions that are harsh to view, especially after so many years. Yet it demonstrates how concerned rabbinic leaders were, with an eye to the future, regarding Rabbi Kook's innovative path and its influence on the generations-long tradition that preserved the Jewish people throughout its years in exile.
[2] pp, 21x28 cm.
Very fine condition. Fold marks.
Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for Winner'S historian Rabbi Yechiel Goldhaber's historic background to this letter.
