Lot 227
Two Important Letters Signed by Rabbi Meir Karelitz – Concerning the Authority of Rabbi Goren in the Military Rabbinate, Adar 1949
Letter by Ga’on Rabbi Meir Karelitz to Chief Rabbi Ben-Zion Uziel, with signed copy of the conclusions of the committee which was established and headed by Rabbi Meir Karelitz, concerning division of authority in army between “military rabbinate” headed by Rabbi Shlomo Goronchik (Goren) and “religious service” headed by Natan Gardi. Tel Aviv, Adar (March) 1949.
Upon the establishment of the army in 1948, prior to the termination of the British mandate, the “religious service” was established under command of Lieutenant Colonel Natan Gardi. The function of the religious service was to ascertain that kitchens were kosher and provision of religious articles and all religious services. Several months later Gardi established the “military rabbinate” headed by Rabbi Shlomo Goronchik (Goren). With time, authoritative differences arose between the “military rabbinate” and the “religious service”, with the central controversy revolving around the question as to whether the rabbinate will exist as a department subject to the authority of the religious service, or whether the religious service will be subject to the authority of the rabbinate, as Rabbi Goren demanded.
In order to clarify this issue a committee on behalf of the chief rabbinate of Israel, composed of Rabbi Meir Karelitz [brother of the Chazon Ish and spiritual leader of Poalei Agudat Yisrael movement], Rabbi Yisachar Dov Weiss and Rabbi Isser Yehudah Unterman [chief rabbi of Tel Aviv] was established. The conclusions of the committee were to accept the position of Rabbi Goren. Indeed, a short period afterwards Lieutenant Colonel Gardi resigned from the army, and the authority for the “religious service” was transferred to Goren. [See attached material, from book of memoirs of N. Gardi, Episodes from the Life of a Young Pioneer, Section II, Tel Aviv, 1979].
Two documents. Various sizes and conditions.
