Monday, July 30, 2012
R. Chaim Leib Auerbach's whirlwind tour of the United States
Here are some accounts of Rabbi Chaim Leib Auerbach - R. Shlomo Zalman's father - the "Dean of Cabalah University" - on his visit to the United States and Canada in 1932. Read these for his views on the Great Depression, Zionism, Prohibition and more. These newspapers are from San Antonio, Sheboygan and Winnipeg.
One of the "five grand rabbis of the Orthodox sect"? Who were the other four?
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to parse the nonsense that you read, but if I could guess I would say R. Kook, R. Sonnenfeld, maybe R. Shimon Horowitz, or R. Yosef Zvi Dushinsky. Maybe R. Ezra Attiye for diversity.
ReplyDelete"Economically, there are numerous examples of what Prohibition has done to American Industries. In Argentia and other South Ameircan countries, products which formerly were imported exclusively by the United States are now manufactured . . ."
ReplyDeleteHow much you think of this stuff is the Grand Rabbi, and how much is from his secretary "translating"?
No way for me to know.
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ReplyDeleteThe Orthodox Jewish Church... heh heh :D
ReplyDeleteHardly a whirlwind tour if he had already been in the USA for a year.
ReplyDeleteamazing! no wonder R. Shlomo Zalman was such a great and accepting gadol. I wonder how his grandson the current "Gadol" of the Hapeles feels about these reports on his grandfather's zionism.
ReplyDeleteit's his son not grandson. guess you aren't very knowlegable on the subjects you comment about.
ReplyDeleteR. Shlomo Zalman's son, R. Chaim Leib's grandson. OK now?
ReplyDeleteIn New York the visiting dignitary was greeted by Mayor McKee. Who? Joseph V. McKee was acting mayor for only three months, taking office after the popular but corrupt Jimmy Walker resigned.
I had the same reaction as Dov.
ReplyDeleteWas "Orthodox Jewish church" an acceptable way of speaking back then, or was it just ignorance?
Acceptable in some circles, anyway. Here, "church" is used in the sense of religious establishment or authority, and probably no better word came to the writer's mind, but in a NY Times article from about a century ago, describing the newly dedicated Ohab Zedek shul in Harlem, the synagogue itself was referred to as a "church." (Ironically, that's what the building eventually became.)
ReplyDeleteThe Newspapers of that era used the word church for every house of worship including Jewish. Also Jews were called Hebrews and rabbis were also called reverends
ReplyDelete