"Family Purity" – A Letter from Rabbi Yechezkel Abramsky to Jewish Leaders in the United States

"Family Purity" – A Letter from Rabbi Yechezkel Abramsky to Jewish Leaders in the United States

"Please do not stand idly by and watch, Heaven forbid, as the sacred is devoured."

A letter from the renowned Gaon, Rabbi Yechezkel Abramsky, author of Chazon Yechezkel, in his capacity as President of the National Center for Family Purity in Israel, addressed to two leading figures of Orthodox Judaism in the United States. Jerusalem, 1971.

Rabbi Abramsky compares supporting family purity to saving lives, writing:

"It is as if our brothers and sisters are standing on the brink of destruction—would the mitzvah of Pikuach Nefesh (saving lives) not compel us to make every effort to save them from annihilation? The same applies to safeguarding family purity!"

For this reason, Rabbi Abramsky demands that a fixed annual allocation from community funds be designated for the cause of family purity.

Among those who served as Presidents of the National Center for Family Purity were some of the greatest Jewish leaders of the generations, including:

The Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum

The Gerrer Rebbe, Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter

Rabbi Aharon Kotler

The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson

Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach

Rabbi Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and others.

[1] page, approx. 21x27 cm.

Typewritten, with Rabbi Abramsky's handwritten signature.

Condition: Very good. Fold marks. Filing holes.

Biographical Information

Rabbi Yechezkel Abramsky (1886–1976), author of Chazon Yechezkel, was one of the foremost leaders of Charedi Judaism and a great Torah authority of his generation.

Served as Rabbi in several cities in Lithuania, including Slutsk.

Later served as Chief Judge (Ra'avad) of the London Beth Din.

Member of Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, President of Vaad HaYeshivot, and one of the Roshei Yeshiva of Slabodka.

President of the National Center for Family Purity in Israel.

His major Torah work was his commentary on the Tosefta, Chazon Yechezkel (10 volumes).

The letter's recipients:

Rabbi Dr. Leo Jung (1892–1987) – A philosopher and one of the architects of Orthodox Judaism in the United States.

Studied at the Galanta Yeshiva under Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky.

Later studied at the Rabbinical Seminary of Berlin and received rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Mordechai Tzvi Schwartz, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, and Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann.

In 1916, he became the chief editor of Sinai magazine, founded by his father.

Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm (1927–2020) – An American Orthodox rabbi, author, and Jewish communal leader.

A disciple of Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik at Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), where he received semicha (rabbinic ordination).

Served as the third President of Yeshiva University.

Later, he continued as Chancellor of Yeshiva University and Rosh Yeshiva of RIETS.

Held a Ph.D. in Jewish philosophy.