Extremely sharp letter from the gaon Rabbi Moshe Shatzkes, av beit din of Lomza, opposing the American Conservative rabbis’ recommendation that would harm the sanctity of the Jewish home. Lomza, 1936.
Inter alia , the rabbi of Lomza cries out, “I was astonished to hear that the Conservative “rabbis, ” trained in Schechter’s seminary … are about to strengthen this rotten revision … Woe is to us that this has occurred in our days, that “rabbis” like this, whose knowledge of Torah and adjudicative literature is so pitiful, especially in the areas of gittin and kiddushin , dare enter into these severe matters that touch upon the very principles of Torah and the sanctity of the Jewish people, matters only delivered the hands of the geonim of the Jewish people and its luminaries, who always and constantly draw from the waters of the Torah, and who guide our lives”
Background to the letter: In the early 1930s, “Rabbi” Yehudah Leib Epstein – a member of the special committee for halachic matters of the (Conservative) Rabbinical Assembly, recommended a revolutionary idea that actually appeared at first glance to be quite ingenious, a classic Jewish innovation that could prevent many problems of illegitimacy. The idea was astonishing in its simplicity: Immediately after his wedding, each person should give permission to the beit din to write a get in his name (if the husband does not want to give a get according to halachah, or if the wife disappears, etc.), the get will be effective retroactive to the moment it was deposited, and the wife will be allowed to remarry. This is, on the face of it, an excellent takkanah with no drawbacks, and with many advantages. However, gedolei Yisrael , with their crystal-ball vision, foresaw that what appears today as a non-damaging rectification, will, after some time, cause rot and destruction to the sanctity of the Jewish family and turn the institution of marriage into a type of circumventable hetter mechirah .
Epstein’s idea came up in 1930, but in 1936, the Conservatives planned an assembly to institute this takanah , hence the reason the gedolei Yisrael pounced on it. Gedolei Yisrael in the United States and all over the Diaspora initiated all-out war opposing this recommendation, and this is the topic around which this letter revolves. Letters from Gedolei Yisrael , including this letter here, were printed in Sefer L’Dor Acharon (New York, 1937).
Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of the gaon Rabbi Moshe Shatzkes, av beit din of Lomza .
[1] leaf paper, 28 cm. Official stationery, written in scribal script with Rabbi Moshe’s signature and stamp.
Fine condition. Aging stains. Fold marks. Tiny tears in the folds.