“And what the Eida forbids they permit in order to create two authorities”—a letter of complaint and protest against the Agudas Yisrael and the Beit Din of the Agudah, from the management of the Eida Charedit, addressed to Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky. Jerusalem, 1950s/60s approx..
Background: in the 1950s the Agudah activist Menachem Frosch established the Beit Din of Agudas Yisrael as a counterweight to the Beit Din of the Eida, in which rabbis who supported the Agudah were not allowed to participate. Geonim such as Rabbi Yitzhak Flexer, Rabbi Binyamin Zeev Prague, and others were appointed. Naturally, its establishment was accompanied by difficulties and conflicts with the older Eida Charedit Beit Din, evidence of which can be seen in this letter.
In the letter, members of the Eida attempt to convince Maran the Steipler to speak out against the Beit Din of Agudas Yisrael, “and we request from the Rav Gaon shlita, whose influence in the yeshivot and heichalei torah is extremely great, and who has the power to save, to stand with us.”
34 lines, typewritten. The name of the signatory has been torn out.
19x19cm. Good condition.
