World Agudath Israel

From Powerbase
Jump to navigation Jump to search

World Orthodox Jewish movement and political organisation founded at Kattowitz in 1912; originally a counterforce to Zionism, it later joined Israeli governments

World Agudath Israel

Type World Orthodox Jewish movement and political organisation
Founded May 1912[1]
Founder(s) Jacob Rosenheim; Avraham Mordechai Alter
Location Jerusalem, New York and London (three centres established in August 1947)[1]
Area served Worldwide
Remarks Guided by the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah; the Israeli political party is Agudat Yisrael and the American body is Agudath Israel of America

World Agudath Israel, usually known as the Aguda, was established in the early twentieth century as the political arm of Ashkenazi Torah Judaism. It succeeded Agudas Shlumei Emunei Yisroel (Union of Faithful Jewry) in 1912.[2] Its base of support was located in Eastern Europe before the Second World War but, due to the revival of the Hasidic movement, it included Orthodox Jews throughout Europe. Prior to World War II and the Holocaust, Agudath Israel operated a number of Jewish educational institutions throughout Europe. After the war, it has continued to operate such institutions in the United States as Agudath Israel of America, and in Israel. Agudath Israel is guided by its Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah (Council of Sages) in Israel and the USA.

History

Katowice Conference

World Agudath Israel was established by Jewish religious leaders at a conference held at Kattowitz (Katowice) in 1912.[2] They were concerned that the Tenth Zionist Congress had defeated a motion by the Torah Nationalists Mizrachi movement for funding religious schools.

Among the chief founders of the organization were Jacob Rosenheim (one of the leaders of German Jewry), and Rabbi Avrohom Mordechai Alter (the fourth Gerrer Rebbe).[3][4] The aim of World Agudath Israel was to strengthen Orthodox institutions independent of the Zionist movement and Mizrachi organization.[5] The advent of the First World War delayed development of the organisation, however.

World War I, interbellum, World War II

During the First World War, Rabbi Dr. Pinchas Kohn and Rabbi Dr. Emmanuel Carlebach (both from Germany),[6][7][8] were appointed as the rabbinical advisors to the German occupying forces in Poland. In this position, they worked closely[9] with the Grand Rabbi of Ger, Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter. As a result of this collaboration, they developed the Agudath Israel organization, with the aim of unifying Eastern European and Western European Orthodox Judaism.

Agudath Israel gained a significant following, particularly among Hasidic Jews. It had representatives running in the Polish elections after the First World War, and they won seats in that country's parliament (Sejm).[10][11][12] Among the elected representatives were Alexander Zusia Friedman, Rabbi Meir Shapiro,[13] Rabbi Yosef Nechemya Kornitzer of Kraków, and Rabbi Aharon Lewin of Reysha.

Prominent Torah scholars who led Agudath Yisroel included the Gerrer Rebbe, the Radziner Rebbe, Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Elazar Leiner, and the Chafetz Chaim. In Latvia between 1922-1934, members of the Agudath Israel faction, led by Mordechai Dubin, were elected to Saeima (The Parliament). Another prominent member of Agudath Israel was Michoel Ber Weissmandl. In Lithuania, Agudath Israel was active inside of Achdus, which merged into the Jewish Economical and Religious Party, and in Czechoslovakia, Agudath Israel first founded the Jewish Conservative Party, which than merged into the Jewish Economic Party and lastly into the Template:Ill.

In the United Kingdom, the Agudath Israel movement was represented by the Adath Israel Synagogue, formed in 1909, and the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, formed in 1926. By 1943 Agudath Israel represented approximately 5000 families and was led by Rabbi Dr Solomon Schonfeld. The British secretary of the Agudath Israel World Organization, the political wing of the movement, was Harry Goodman, publisher and editor of Jewish Weekly. He played a key part in maintaining the Agudath Israel organization through World War II.[14]

Post-World War II

In the post-war period, Agudath Israel was active in Europe to provide aid for Holocaust survivors. There was a branch in the World Agudath Israel World Organization in England located at 37/38 Mitre Street in London. Another branch was located in Switzerland, located at 59 Lavaterstrasseled which was led by Dr. Shlomo Ehrman. There were also branches in Allied-occupied Germany. The Central-Committee of Agudath Israel of the British Zone was led by Rabbi Yisroel Moshe Olewski,[15] Rabbi Shlomo Zev Zweigenhaft[15] and Efraim Londoner[15][16] and was located in Bergen-Belsen.[16] Yehuda Leib Girsht represented Agudath Israel on the camp committee of Bergen Belsen.[16] The Central Committee of Agudath Israel of the American Zone was led by H. Parasol and N. Braunfeld and was located at Trogerstrasse 58/4 in Munich.

Agudath Israel and the State of Israel

When Israel was founded, Agudath Israel reached a modus vivendi with the State of Israel, which was predominantly led by secularists. It helped secure an agreement between Ashkenazi rabbinical leaders and David Ben-Gurion which ensured Ashkenazi rabbinical co-ordination with the state, as well as the implementation of such guarantees as public observance consistent with the laws of the Sabbath and Kashrut. It has established itself as an Israeli political party winning seats in the Knesset either as the Agudat Yisrael or in coalition with other Orthodox groups running under the name United Torah Judaism.[17]

Anti-Zionism?

Origins. The Encyclopaedia Judaica says Agudat Israel was formed "to present a viable counterforce to the advances made by assimilation and Reform trends, and by Zionism, the Bund, and autonomism in Jewry", and that it was created "partly by groups who consistently opposed any attempt to revive Jewish nationhood in Eretz Israel through human agency", which they compared to "a rebellious attempt by a disbanded regiment to resume its identity and hoist its banner without the express permission of its commander".[1] The Encyclopedia of Religion says the German Orthodox communities that took the initiative envisioned a worldwide union "in the fight against Zionism and Reform Judaism", and that the communities at the 1912 Kattowitz conference "shared opposition to Zionism and other secular ideologies".[18] Benjamin Moser, in Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History, describes it as "an Orthodox movement that saw the Jews not as a nation but as a religious community", and says the Dutch writer Jacob Israël de Haan grew closer to it through his meetings in Jerusalem with the rabbi Chaim Sonnenfeld.[19]

The Zionist state. The Encyclopaedia Judaica says Agudists "unequivocally resisted the creation of a secular Jewish society in the Holy Land".[1] At its Marienbad assembly of September 1937 the movement's "strict stand prevailed": "A Jewish State can only be founded on the law of the Torah being recognized according to the Torah. A Jewish State not founded on and governed by Torah principles ... cannot possibly call itself a Jewish state." When the Peel Commission proposed a Jewish state in 1937, the same entry says, the proposal caused a heated debate in Agudat Israel in Palestine: "in principle, all rejected the idea of a secular Jewish state", and almost all the representatives of the old yishuv in the movement rejected the idea of a Jewish state.[1] By 1947, however, the entry says, the movement "in practice ... completely identified itself with the Zionist demand for the establishment of a Jewish state" while hesitating to recognise a secular one; on the strength of a June 1947 letter from the Jewish Agency promising that the religious status quo would be observed, it joined the provisional council of the state, which signed the Declaration of Independence.[1] The Encyclopedia of Religion says that this "status quo letter" legitimised Agudat Israel's joining the government-in-formation and the initial 1949–1951 coalition; that it supported the Likud-led coalition in 1977; and that it joined Israel's national unity government in 1984 and "has since remained part of the government, although it has refused a ministry".[18] Its leader Rabbi Yitzhak Meir Levin was minister of social welfare from 1949 to 1952.[1]

A replacement state. The movement's alternative was a Torah state rather than a Palestinian or equal-rights one: the Encyclopaedia Judaica quotes the Agudist leader Isaac Breuer, who set as its aim "uniting all the people of Israel under the rule of the Torah, in all aspects of political, economic, and spiritual life of the People of Israel in the Land of Israel"; the entry says this became, after the Holocaust, the ideological basis of the organisation in Israel.[1]

The Zionist movement. Agudat Israel built separate institutions from the Zionist movement: the Encyclopedia of Religion says it established a Settlement Fund to support Orthodox efforts in Palestine, which "received no aid from the Zionist organizations".[18] Moser quotes a rabbi's letter to the Zionists during De Haan's contacts with King Hussein: the Agudah "authorized no other institution to speak in its name or on behalf of all of Israel; ... you are not the masters of the people of Israel nor are they your plaything to do with as you please", and says its request to be recognised as separate from the Zionists "brought accusations of treason".[20] The Encyclopaedia Judaica says that after the Second World War Agudat Israel "cooperated with the Zionist Organization in extending help to Diaspora Jewry".[1] It also records that in Palestine, as immigrants from Poland and Germany gained influence, the old yishuv lost its dominance in the party and the ultra-Orthodox community separated from Agudat Israel (see Neturei Karta).[1] The entry reports no call by the movement to dissolve the World Zionist Organization.

The Great Congress

The World Agudath Israel federation held international conferences and Torah congressional meetings known as HaKnessia HaGedolah (Template:Lang-he), which included many of its spiritual and political leaders, from Israel and around the world. To date, six congresses have been held, the last of which was in 1980. They were in 1923, 1929, 1937, 1954, 1964, and 1980.

See also


External links

Bibliography

  • Gershon C.Bacon, The Politics of Tradition: Agudat Israel in Poland, 1916-1939, The Magnes Press, Jerusalem, 1996, Template:ISBN

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Agudat Israel Encyclopaedia Judaica (via Encyclopedia.com), accessed 13 November 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Haredi Judaism.
  3. ↑ Rosenheim, Jacob | Encyclopedia.com.
  4. ↑ Blessings of 'Shalom' / What is an Agudist?. February 1980. . pp. 16–18
  5. ↑ The "Aguddat Israel" Movement.
  6. ↑ "The legal publishers of this new daily were the German rabbis Pinchas Kohn and Emmanuel Carlebach of the FVIOJ..."Kalman Weiser (2011) Jewish People, Yiddish Nation: Noah Prylucki and the Folkists in Poland.   University of Toronto Press . ISBN 978-1442662100.
  7. ↑ Lithuanian Jewish Communities. 1996.  Jason Aronson, Incorporated . ISBN 1461629381.
  8. ↑ "At the wedding of Rav Emmanuel Carlebach zt"l of Cologne, all the married women (in the picture) wore shaitels." The Ashkenaz Forum :: Topic: Shaitel vs. Tichel.
  9. ↑ Stevens Institute of Technology.
  10. ↑ "Agudath Israel... In time it became a political party represented in the Sejm (Polish Parliament)." Roberto Perin (2017) The Many Rooms of this House: Diversity.   University of Toronto Press . ISBN 978-1487510619.
  11. ↑ "... between the wars, none was more effective than the Agudath Israel. ... in the Polish government and was represented in the Sejm (Polish Parliament)." William B. Helmreich (2000) The World of the Yeshiva: An Intimate Portrait of Orthodox Jewry.   KTAV Publishing House . ISBN 0881256412.
  12. ↑ "Agudas Yisroel succeeded in electing deputies to the Polish Sejm." Agudas Yisroel.
  13. ↑ A Light from Lublin: Rav Meir Shapiro’s Quest to Build Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin - Mishpacha Magazine.
  14. ↑ Pamela Shatzkes (2002) Holocaust and Rescue: Impotent or Indifferent? Anglo-Jewry 1938-1945 Basingstoke: Palgrave, pp. 13-14
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Migdal Dovid (lelov) 2019 Edition, Toldos Hamo"l, page 92.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Albert, Rabbi Shmuel. Hamodia, Inyan Magazine Vol. XXII No. 1059 May 8, 2019.
  17. ↑ "... list made up of the ultra-Orthodox parties Agudat Israel and Degel HaTorah ... United Torah Judaism (UTJ) promotes the interests of the Haredi community ..." United Torah Judaism - The Israel Democracy Institute.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Gershon C. Bacon, Agudat Yisra'el Encyclopedia of Religion (via Encyclopedia.com), accessed 13 November 2026.
  19. ↑ Benjamin Moser, Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History (New York: Doubleday, 2026), p. 97.
  20. ↑ Moser, Anti-Zionism, p. 106.
Retrieved from "https://powerbase.info/index.php?title=World_Agudath_Israel&oldid=309588"