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Correspondence

January-June 1962

Exchange with Haham Gaon about the Chief Rabbinate's Ruling on Marriage with Bene Israel (1962)

Practical Halacha India

1. R. Lamm to Haham Gaon

1. R. Lamm to Haham Gaon (Jan. 28, 1962)

1. R. Lamm to Haham Gaon (Jan. 28, 1962)

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Exchange with R. Gotthold about the Bene Israel Controversy and Securing a Rabbi for India (1961)

Dear Rabbi Weiss: Permit me to reply to your letter of 6.21, and those of Rabbi Lamm of 6.9 and 6.23, together. By virtue of my position I am constrained in giving you the fulness of reply which your questions deserve. The Director General of our Ministry, Dr. S. Z. Kahane, informed me, upon reading your letters, that your remarks are related to the various organizations in the Diaspora. They should be ruled by those organizations themselves in their entirety, and you cannot excuse yourself by evading their conflicting statements on the same issues. A line of policy was laid down by our authorities and we are already committed to it with all possible implications. Our Ministry secured a favorable vote from the Knesset for financial allocations in order to make possible the financing for religious functions. The same could not be secured from the Ministry for Agriculture and similar Rabbis as it could be secured from the Ministry for Religious Functions. This might explain to you the position taken by Rabbi Nissim and his ruling. We must make clear that this is a firm position about the financing aspect for sending and maintaining rabbis in your country. I cannot tell you what brought on Rabbi Nissim’s change of heart. Later – today – I have an appointment with him together with Dr. Kahane and after further elucidation I shall add it later. Professor Tartakower is in close correspondence with Mr. Benjamin of the World Jewish Congress in New York. Mr. Benjamin informed me that Rabbi Shevitz had no chance to be appointed in Bombay because of the Rabbinate’s opposition to have an Ashkenazi Rabbi in Bombay. Mr. Benjamin’s opposition to have an orthodox Rabbi is based on religious grounds, as was pointed out that his financial interest in this affair is the safeguarding of the Bnei Yisroel’s rights and combating discrimination. He does not exclude such responsibility though you were to contact the World Institute in New York and to come with them to an agreement. Our Mi…
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Exchange with R. Silas about Proposed Takkanot on Conversion and Marriage for Indian Bet Din (1962)

Dear Rabbi Lamm, Some time ago, you sent the Tekanoth for conversion to the “Gate of Mercy” Synagogue, through the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations in India. Some questions have arisen and we need your advice. In Rule No. 3 in the Tekanoth it is mentioned: “If a candidate who intends to be converted to the Jewish faith is married to a Jew, then the conversion cannot take place less than nine months and one day after petition for proselytisation!” Could you kindly explain what is this nine months and one day period meant for. Also, in Rule 3 of the above, it is mentioned “that the candidate should appear a year after petition for proselytisation before the Beth Din.” Why is the period less in the case when the candidate is married to a Jew? I would appreciate an early reply to these questions, and thanking you in anticipation. Yours sincerely, S. Silas Rabbi Simon Silas Assistant to the Haham
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Letter to Moses Feuerstein about the Position of the Israeli Rabbinate on Marriage with Bene Israel (1962)

Dear Moe: I think no more about the enclosed than you do. I am awaiting the text of the Chief Rabbi's decision before I can appreciate all the nuances and subtleties of the situation. However, superficially it seems that Rabbi Nissim struck a compromise. He allows intermarriage with the Bene-Israel, but only after a thorough search of the genealogy of the Bene-Israel applicant. The Rabbis of the right object to the dispensation altogether, and the Bene-Israel activists in Israel object to the special condition. Poor Rabbi Nissim is right in the middle. Which is where we are, too. Cordially yours, Rabbi Norman Lamm
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