Home Home / Exchange with Dr. Tartakower about Cand…

Correspondence

May-June 1962

Exchange with Dr. Tartakower about Candidate for Bombay Rabbi and Strained Relations with Israeli Rabbinate (1962)

The Rabbinate India

1. Dr. Weiss to Dr. Tartakower

1. Dr. Weiss to Dr. Tartakower (May 17, 1962)

1. Dr. Weiss to Dr. Tartakower (May 17, 1962)

View The Text

This content is currently available in its original PDF format. As we expand the library, we plan to add a text version as well.

Next Letter

RELATED CONTENT

Correspondence

Exchange with Dr. Kahana about Sending a Rabbi to India (1962)

רב וידיד מאד נכבד, מאשר אני קבלת מכתבך מעש"ק פר יתרו – ומקוה בהתאם למכתבך שהענין יסתדר בקרוב. אשמח גם לקבל את חות דעתך בקשר לסידור הרב בהודו – אם אושר התקציב על ידי האוניון ובאיזה גובה, ואם אפשר לשלח את הרב לשם כשימצא האיש המתאים. הרעיון על בן ישיבה שישתלם נראה לי. נראה לי אבל זה לא פותר את הבעיה הדחופה. אשר לבר מצוה רצוי שתשלח לי את רשימת הילדים הנכנסים השנה לגיל המצוות. השם, הכתבת, והשבת ונשלח לך בשבילם תעודות בר מצוה מירושלים מהר-ציון ונחברם עם ילדים בני בר מצוה הנכנסים באותה שבת גופא למצוות בישראל. אשמח לשמוע ממך. בכבוד רב, ד"ר ש.ז. כהנא, המנהל הכללי.נ.ב. כך הנני להודיעך שהרבגוסהולד לא נמצא כעת בארץכך האינפורמציה שלי אינה שלמה.
The Rabbinate India

Correspondence

Exchange with R. Warhaftig about Candidate for Bombay Rabbi (1962)

My Dear Dr. Warhaftig: I hope you will excuse me for not writing to you in Hebrew, but as you probably realize it is much easier for me to correspond in English, in which language I can dictate and have the letters typed for me. Rabbi Kirshblum has just informed me that you have an appropriate candidate for the position as rabbi in Bombay, India. He has inquired of Mr. Moe Feuerstein, President of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, as to whether the Union is prepared to share in his salary. A great deal, of course, depends upon the candidate. As you may know, I spent some time in India last year on behalf of the Union and the Rabbinical Council of America, and I am more or less an authority in dealings with India. Complicating this problem is the rather unusual conditions and policies regarding the Chief Rabbi’s ecclesiastical office. I would appreciate it very much, therefore, if you will send me as many details as possible about the candidate, of his background, qualifications, and requirements. I would appreciate it if these were forwarded to you, if you were to notify me of events as they develop so that, perhaps, we may be of some assistance in achieving the objective that is sacred to all of us. With all good wishes, Most respectfully yours, Rabbi Norman Lamm.
The Rabbinate India

Correspondence

Letter from Dr. Tartakower to Dr. Weiss about Training a Rabbi for Bene Israel (1962)

Dear Dr. Weiss: You may remember the conference which a few months ago took place in your office, at which time I discussed with you the problem of the Bene Israel community in India and Israel, and an "agreement" was reached between us, according to which you would be ready to grant your assistance in training an Orthodox rabbi for the Bene Israel in India. I informed Chief Rabbi Nissim about the content of our conference immediately upon my return to Israel. He was glad to hear it but at the same time was afraid that training a rabbi here in Israel would require at least two or three years, whereas the urgent need in India already exists at the present.He therefore wondered whether your assistance in covering the budget of the rabbinate in Bombay could not be promised immediately, provided that a proper candidate will be found here in Israel, whereas at the same time another young candidate would be trained, whose training and living expenses anyway are being taken care of on the spot. May I have the benefit of your reaction to this suggestion?I did not write you before, since there was again trouble in this country with the marriage affairs of the Bene Israel and an angry controversy between Chief Rabbi Nissim and the representatives of the Bene Israel, but my impression is that the atmosphere calmed considerably down in the last few weeks, and the moment may have come to consider again the important problem of the religious education of the Bene Israel in India.I am taking advantage of this opportunity in order to submit to you another request on behalf of Dr. Se. Sabath, author of the book *"In the Camps of the North: The Fate of a Jewish Prisoner Behind the Iron Curtain"* (Hebrew, published in Israel in 1959, 574 pp.), which had a very favorable review in *Jewish Life*, December 1961. Encouraged by this review, where among others the publication of the book in English is being urged, the author, who happens to be a friend of mine, asked me to find out, with y…
The Rabbinate India