Sharp Letter from the Gaon Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ehrenreich, Av Beit Din of Shamloy - On his Torah Scrolls that were ...

Sharp Letter from the Gaon Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ehrenreich, Av Beit Din of Shamloy - On his Torah Scrolls that were Torn and Burned due to Immodest Women - Shamloy, Tevet, 1928

Torah letter in the laws of genizah for a Torah scroll, handwritten and signed by the Gaon Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ehrenreich, may his blood be avenged, av beit din of Shamloy. Written to Rabbi Yosef HaKohen Schwartz of Grosswardein, author of Vayelaket Yosef. Shamloy, Tevet, 1928.

Background to the letter: On 13 Kislev 1927 in the evening hours A mob of antisemitic hooligan Romanian students gathered on the streets of Grosswardein, Rabbi Yosef Schwartz's city, broke into synagogues and study halls to vent their fury over Torah scrolls and ritual objects, tearing them to pieces in the streets and igniting the fire. From there, the students continued to other nearby cities to tear and throw around Torah scrolls.

Rabbi Yosef HaKohen Schwartz, rabbi of the Machzikei HaTorah congregation in Grosswardein, author of Vayelaket Yosef and VaYitzbar Yosef, sent letters to rabbinic leaders, including his relative, the rabbi of Shamloy, asking their opinion where and in what way the funerals for the Torah's sheets. He asked why they deserved this distress, to see the contempt and desecration of the honor of heaven in such a disgraceful way.

In the first part of the letter, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ehrenreich details the laws of the genizah of Torah scrolls, and their funerals, and the words that must be said during them.

In the second part of the letter, the rabbi of Shamloy said that in his opinion, this event was due to the immodest behavior of the Chareidi women, writing as follows: "In my humble opinion, this huge punishment came to us due to the tremendous and frightful sin that is common among us and has become "permissable, " that Jewish girls and women, even from families of scholars, go out in a revealing manner and in short clothes, garments that look like the body, parts that should be covered are revealed, such that this bitter punishment came to us measure for measure, that Hashem's modest vessel that is kept hidden was revealed and disgraced in the open markets and streets."

This letter was printed for the first time in the anthology Otzrot Yerushalayim Part 36 (Jerusalem, 1969), and for a second time in Iggeret Lechem Shlomo (New York, 1994), letter 46, pp. 112-114.

Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of the gaon Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ehrenreich.

[1] leaf (two written pages). 23 cm.

Moderate condition. tars in the middle of the leaf and in its margins, with blemish and lack in the text, taped. Stains and wear.

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