Controversy Over the Chief Rabbinate Elections – 1936 – Rare Pamphlet

Controversy Over the Chief Rabbinate Elections – 1936 – Rare Pamphlet

Chavat Da’at – The Torah perspective of the great Torah scholars, leading rabbis, and esteemed Rebbes in the Land of Israel and abroad regarding the Chief Rabbinate elections in the Land of Israel. Jerusalem, Cheshvan 5697 (1936).

A pamphlet addressing the elections for the position of Chief Rabbi in the Land of Israel, containing numerous letters from rabbis supporting Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Charlap. Among the letters: Agudat HaRabbanim of Poland, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Alter of Pabianice, Rabbi Chizkiyahu Yosef Mishkovsky, Rabbi Simcha Bunim Werner, and many others.

On the title page, it states that the publication was issued by the Organization of Charedim, Members of Knesset Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael, first issue: Marcheshvan 5697. However, no additional issues were published.

In 1936, elections for the Chief Rabbinate of Israel were held. The candidates were the brilliant Torah scholar Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Charlap, who succeeded Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook as the head of Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav, and Rabbi Dr. Yitzchak Isaac HaLevi Herzog, an outstanding scholar in his own right. The elections were highly emotional, with supporters of each candidate making every effort to ensure their rabbi’s selection for this prestigious position.

Paradoxically, the Chazon Ish supported Rabbi Herzog, who was considered the less Charedi of the two candidates. Some speculated that the Chazon Ish did so deliberately, preferring a candidate less suitable for the role in order to diminish the significance of the position itself.

[8] pages, 31 cm. The pages remain untrimmed from the printing process.

Very good condition.