“V’HaElokim yivakesh et ha-nirdaf!” Letter of protest and petition against Mr. Yitzchak Greenbaum, representative at the Polish Sejm, following his speech attacking Rabbi Yechiel HaLevi Kestenberg, av”d Radom. Radom, [1925].
[1] printed leaf. Address handwritten at the top, the bottom of the leaf includes a stub for adding a signature to the petition.
This document protests the behavior of Mr. Yitzchak Greenbaum, representative in the Polish Sejm on behalf of the Zionist Left, who publicly attacked Rabbi Yechiel Levi Kestenberg, rabbi of Radom, at the Sejm on April 30, 1925. The document was written on behalf of the four council leaders in Radom and about twenty prominent members of the community. Addressed to a representative in the Sejm. The addressee was asked to sign on the bottom of the leaf and join the protest.
The rabbi of Radom disagreed with Greenbaum who proposed cooperation with other Polish minorities (Germans, Ukrainians, Russians, etc.) in order to overcome the Polish election laws that were designed to neutralize the strength of the minorities. Greenbaum organized a joint list of minorities in the 1922 elections to the Sejm, which elected 35 Jewish representatives to the Sejm. Greenbaum’s approach garnered different reactions among the Jews of Poland and strengthened anti-Semitic feelings in the country. Rabbi Kestenberg opposed Greenbaum at the convention of Agudat Yisrael rabbis during elections in Pabianice and other opportunities, and therefore, Greenbaum attacked him during a speech at the Sejm. During his speech, he claimed that during the First World War the Orthodox weren’t loyal to the local movement for independence and supported foreign government. Yitzchak Greenbaum (1879-1970) immigrated to Eretz Yisrael in 1933. He was a member of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization. He signed on the Declaration of Independence and was the first Minister of Interior of the State of Israel.Rabbi Yechiel Kestenberg (1888-1942) received semichah from the Divrei Malkiel, Rabbi Moshe Nachum Yerushalmski and others. In 1913 he was appointed chief dayan in Radom, and in 1914 became rabbi of the city. The controversy surrounding his appointment accompanied the community throughout the period between the two world wars. In 1926, most of the community voted for Rabbi Yitzchak Steinberg, but the local government authorized the appointment of Kestenberg. This controversy continued for dozens of years. Due to this controversy against Rabbi Kestenberg, M. Guttman wrote a book in Yiddish regarding the situation [Warsaw, 1931] (Di Virklechkeit in licht un shaten….). On 3 Elul 1942, the rabbi was exiled with the Jews of the city from the Radom ghetto to Treblinka, where he was killed.
Fold marks. Very fine condition.