Invitation printed on stationery bearing the Admo”r of Gur’s logo. Signed in print by the Admo”r Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter, author of Imrei Emet . The Rebbe invites the letter’s recipient to the famous assembly of rabbis at the Churvah of Rabbi Yehudah HeChassid, an assembly that brought about the unhealed rift between Agudat Yisrael and the Edah HaCharedit.
Towards the end of 1942, after initial rumours began to reach the Land of Israel about the murder of Polish Jewry, the ‘Imrei Emet’ (together with his son, the ‘Lev Simchah’) with the cooperation of Knesset Yisrael and the Chief Rabbinate of the Land of Israel, called for a prayer assembly to cry out and fast at the Churvah synagogue in Jerusalem. Most of the rabbis in the Land of Israel participate. The ‘Imrei Emet, ‘ who was the first speaker, read out these words: “We must arouse Heavenly mercy … we must strengthen ourselves … We must appeal to Hashem to send complete salvation.” The rally was overshadowed by the absence of Rabbi Dushinsky, ga”avad of the ‘Edah HaChareidit’ and one of the leaders of Agudat Yisrael in the Land of Israel, who boycotted this assembly and set a different day for fasting, due to his opposition to the participation of Zionist and secular bodies. This created a rift and a snowballing internal crisis which led to the complete separation of the Edah HaChareidit from Agudat Yisrael a year later.
It is shocking to read the Rebbe’s words in this invitation. As mentioned, at that stage of the Holocaust, the deathly bitter news of the systematic and total annihilation of European Jewry was already filtering into the Land. While hearts still refused to believe it, the Rebbe, with his renowned insight, understood quite well what was happening. The letter cries out with the unfathomable sorrow of the leader of diaspora Jewry – almost his entire family and almost all of his Chassidim were there, in that horrible place, the valley of death, everyone was there! His firstborn son and “successor, ” his daughters, his daughters-in-law, his grandchildren, his great-grandchildren and most of his congregation of Chassidim, which numbered approximately 100,000 persons, “and Ya’akov remained alone.” The Rebbe writes in his chilling letter before us: “The horrifying news about the situation of the Jews in Poland … forces me … to call “go gather” [‘לך כנוס’] and request that his honor shlit”a participate in a assembly of rabbis … on Sunday at 12:00, in Rabbi Yehudah HeChassid’s synagogue … to cry out and arouse Heavenly mercy … to unite and consult about saving them. Your friend, in sorrow, Avraham Mordechai Alter.”
[1] leaf paper, 14×22 cm. Glossy paper. Placed in the Rebbe’s official original envelope. The envelope is stamped and postmarked and bears the addressee’s handwritten name.
Very fine condition. Fold marks. Slight ink reflection as a result of close folding.